Popular Gag Song


DESCRIPTION: "I was born in Jersey City In Texas way down south And that is just the reason why My voice is in my mouth." Assorted verses of contradiction, exaggeration, tautology, and nonsense, e.g. "There was people dying lately Who had never died before."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonsense talltale
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 447, "Popular Gag Song" (2 texts, but the "B" text is "The Barefoot Boy with Boots On")
Roud #6675
File: R447

Popular Gag Song (II)


See The Barefoot Boy with Boots On (File: FSC154)

Popular Wobbly, The


DESCRIPTION: "I'm as mild-mannered man as can be, And I've never done no harm that I can see..." but the singer ends up in jail, where "they go wild, simply wilder over me." They "go wild" because he is a union man; he suffers much in prison
AUTHOR: Words: T-Bone Slim
EARLIEST DATE: Early 1950s (recording - Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: IWW prison
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 70, "The Popular Wobbly" (1 text)
DT, POPWOBB*
Roud #9822
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "The Popular Wobbly" (on PeteSeeger05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me" (tune)
NOTES: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") was a radical syndicalist labor union. Founded in the late 1800s, it fought for the 8-hour day and for "One Big Union" rather than separate unions in various crafts or industries. It achieved its greatest successes in the American Northwest, particularly in the lumber trades (although it also fought hard in the textile-workers' strike in Lowell, Mass.) and inspired many songs and poems that have entered folk tradition. While membership has declined in recent decades, the union is still active and still radical.
"They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me" was a popular vaudeville song of the early 1900s. - PJS
File: FSWB070

Pore Mournah


See Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady) (File: San011)

Pork in the Cupboard


DESCRIPTION: "Oh there's pork in the cupboard, there's beef on the shelf If no one don't eat it I'll eat it myself." The rest is all "chin music."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses nonballad food
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, p. 91, "Pork in the Cupboard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9956
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bridle and Saddle" (lyrics)
NOTES: Most of Peacock's version is "chin music". Specifically, a text verse is "La da diddle la diddle la diddle dum da...." Peacock explains, "'Chin' or 'mouth' music is a vocal imitation of instrumental music and is used for dancing when a fiddle or accordion is not handy. Some singers ... become so proficient that they are often called upon even when instruments are available."
Newfoundland "chin music" is like, and serves the same purpose, as Irish "lilting" and Traveller "tuning." See, for example, Hall, notes to Voice11. - BS
This is evidently a local version of "Bridle and Saddle" or one of its equivalents. Ideally, we'd have a mechanism for tracking these floating elements. But we don't, and this version is localized enough to get its own entry. - RBW
File: Pea091

Pork, Beans and Hard Tack


DESCRIPTION: "Our volunteers are soldiers bold, so say the people all... They leave their homes on starving pay to take the nitchies' (Indians') life." Fed poor rations, they are sent all around Canada by train, boat, and foot
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1887
KEYWORDS: soldier hardtimes Canada
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1885 - Second Metis uprising, which collapsed despite the failure of Canadian troops to defeat the enemy
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 127-129, "Pork, Beans and Hard Tack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4516
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Riel's Song" and references there (subject)
NOTES: For the historical background to the Metis uprisings, see "Riel's Song." This song (which appeared in the University of Toronto Songbook only two years after the revolt) accurately describes the fate of the soldiers sent to pursue Riel.
Sent west by rail, the troops had to finish their trek by boat and foot, with rations even worse than they enjoyed on the train. Having reached Metis country, they had great difficulty finding the enemy, and spent time as laborers. Then they were sent back, primarily by boat, to Winnipeg. - RBW
File: FMB127

Portlairge


DESCRIPTION: Irish Gaelic: The singer stops in Waterford for drinks and at "the full house of women there." He is visited by four women and will take a girl with him to Carrick in the morning.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem01)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage drink sex
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Portlairge" (on IRClancyMakem01)
NOTES: The description is based on the cover notes to IRClancyMakem01 by Patrick Clancy. "Portlairge" is one of the songs his grandmother learned at her pub. - BS
File: RcPortl

Portland County Jail


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a stranger to your city, My name is Paddy Flynn. I got drunk the other night; The coppers pulled me in. Had no one to... go my bail. They locked me up for ninety days In the Portland County Jail." The song describes the hard cases in prison
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 214-215, "Portland County Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 69, "Portland County Jail" (1 text)
DT, PORTJAIL*
Roud #9858
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "Portland County Jail" (on Thieme04)
File: San214

Portmore


DESCRIPTION: "The lang woods o' Derry are ill to gae through." "My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go." He thinks of the valiant in Portmore: "O bonny Portmore, ye shine where you charm ... When I look from you, my heart it is sore."
AUTHOR: Donald Cameron (source: Buchan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: homesickness Ireland Scotland nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig #32, p. 2, "Portmore" or "My Heart's in the Highlands" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1875 (reprint of 1828 edition)), Vol II, pp. 150-151, 313, "Portmore"
The Illustrated Book of Scottish Songs from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century, (London, 1854 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 297, "Portmore" [this is an acknowledged reprint, with some punctuation differences, of Buchan's text and note]
W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1881 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol II, pp. 180-181, "Portmore" or "My Heart's in the Hielans"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Strong Walls of Derry" (tune, per Christie)
cf. "Bonny Portmore" (derivative texts) and references there
NOTES: Buchan: "It is well known to most poetical readers with how little success Burns endeavoured to graft upon this stock a twig of his own rearing ["My Heart's in the Highlands"].... The whole is now, for the first time, given complete from the recitation of a very old person."
See W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 262-263, "Bell Gordon of Portmore," in which the singer leaves Bell Gordon, with no word about the Highlands. It includes the lines "Oh, bonny Portmore, ye delight me wi' charms! The more I look to you the more my heart warms! But when I look from you, my heart it is sore, To part wi' Bell Gordon and bonny Portmore." Christie says this was long sung in Buchan and is his mother's text augmented by two other "copies." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Gr0Portm

Porto Rico [Puerto Rico]


DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "Must I go to Porto Rico/Must I sail the dark blue sea?/Must I fight for you, my darling/Until death shall set me free?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: love travel fight war battle death lover soldier nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1898: Spanish-American War, in which the U. S. captures Puerto Rico and other territories from Spain
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SharpAp 249, "Porto Rico" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3659
NOTES: Barely even a fragment, but I include it on the chance it may turn out to be part of a full song that we find some day. - PJS
Roud lumps this with a fragment in Brown, which mentions Virginia rather than Puerto Rico, and which otherwise looked to me like "East Virginia (Dark Hollow)." Which just shows how mysterious the thing is.
File: ShAp249

Portrush Fishing Disaster (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls going to sea in fine weather. As the ship sails home, a storm blows up. The singer asks that the sailors' names not be named, buds farewell to home, and tells his friends they will meet on "yonder shore"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death ship disaster wreck storm
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb. 24, 1826 - The Portrush Disaster
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H27b, p. 105, "The Portrush Fishing Disaster (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9047
File: HHH027b

Portrush Fishing Disaster (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer calls listeners to hear of four sailors who died at Portrush. The singer names the four. He notes that they died despite their skill; the wind was too strong. The singer hopes that the dead and their families will meet in heaven
AUTHOR: Daniel McIlreavy?
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death ship disaster wreck storm
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb. 24, 1826 - The Portrush Disaster
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H27c, p. 105-106, "The Portrush Fishing Disaster (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9044
File: HHH027c

Ports are Open, The


DESCRIPTION: Closed ports ruined trade. Out of work tradesmen were wrecking steam looms, and could not pay high food prices. A royal "proclamation ... [will] admit foreign grain to our markets." "Farmers quite distracted they'll go" but tradesmen will find jobs.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1815 (according to Leyden)
KEYWORDS: war commerce farming nonballad political
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leyden 36, "The Ports are Open" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The World It May Wag" (tune)
NOTES: The song refers to the cause of closed ports as a "Corporation Bill" which "some hundreds did kill While others it kept in high station It shut up our ports against peas beans and oats And it ruined the trade of our nation." The end of the policy is a royal proclamation that "the ports will stand open Till the twenty-fourth of December So parliament then when they do meet again Hope that too the poor will remember."
Leyden: "This song was written in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the battle of Waterloo. During the war between England and France the Government imposed severe restrictions on the import of cereals into British ports -- 'It shut up our ports against peas, beans and oats'. The price of corn was high.... Farmers invested capital in developing inferior land...; yields increased and profits rose accordingly, but the ending of the war was to change all that. British ports were once more opened and the effect on home prices was dramatic.... The song celebrates the opening of the ports. Farmers, of course, were angry.... For ordinary people, however it was a very optimistic period...."
This forecast of things to come in the near future presents a different picture of the effect of war on the economy than we see later in "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose" ("Come stir up the wars, and our trade will be flourishing") in the light of longer range harsh reality; also see the notes to "Ye Sons of Old Ireland."
The Jevons Index numbers for cereal prices from 1807 to 1818 illustrate the problem. The base year (index=100) is 1782: 1807 (173), 1808 (201), 1809 (211), 1810 (203), 1811 (182), 1812 (272), 1813 (256), 1814 (165), 1815 (137), 1816 (148), 1817 (198), 1818 (209). (source: British Financial Experience 1790-1830 by Norman J Silberling in The Review of Economics and Statistics, October 1919, Vol 1 No 4, Table 2, p. 283). In 1815 a corn law was passed allowing no cereal imports unless the domestic price reached a floor of 80s for 28 lbs (source: The Corn Laws: the Formation of Popular Economics in Britain edited by Alon Kadish, (London, 1996), Vol 1, p. xi).
The general problem of overplanting is behind the broadside Bodleian, Harding B 16(59c), "The Corn-Factor's Dream," H. Watson (Newcastle), 1817, which begins
A Corn factor sly, as the story is told,
Had a great stock of grain in his lofts still unsold
When harvest came on, which adverse to his plan,
Seem'd inclin'd to turn out well and ruin the poor man. - BS
This is in any case a strange view of trade during the Napoleonic Wars. It is certainly true that Britain had a bad tendency to mess with Irish trade -- e.g. building up the linen industry and then destroying it.
But the real problem in the early nineteenth century was the war with France. According to GodechotEtAl, p. 124, the Berlin Decree was issued on November 21, 1806. The purpose of this, according to Herold, p. 179, was to defeat Britain by economic blockade.
GodechotEtAl, pp. 126-127: "After the peace of Tilsit, and for the fourth time since 1793, France and England stood alone as adversaries.... Napoleon could no longer contemplate an invasion of England [due to Trafalgar]. Ever since the two powers became active foes, each had brandished the usual economic arm. England declared the coast of France in a state of blockade, and France renewed her prohibition against the importation of British goods, a practice that had been decreed as early as 1793 under the National Convention. At the beginning, these measures had not been very effective. However, little by little, war by blockade was perfected.
"In France for more than a century the premise had been accepted that the power of Great Britain, based upon its economic organization, was fragile. French economists... considered her system of credit abnormal. Her industry could prosper only by virtue of exportation to Europe. It ought, therefore, to be relatively easy to break down the system by excluding her exports from foreign markets; Great Britain would then be ruined and would not be slow to capitulate."
It was not the last time an enemy tried to strangle Britain, but it proved unfortunate because the French could only ban shipments to Britain -- whereas Britain could physically *stop* shipments along the coast using her navy. It also passed the Orders in Council, which barred neutrals from trading to France unless they sent their goods through Britain (which, along with impressment, was one of the leading causes of the War of 1812; see Berton, p. 45). There was a great deal of smuggling, and many of the countries of Europe found their own trade messed up (in this pre-railroad period, large shipments generally went by water or not at all). Napoleon's Continental System would eventually collapse. But, before it did, it caused much hardship and poverty in Britain.
A second thing much restricting British trade was the shortage of sailors. To keep the Royal Navy up to strength, the press gangs were constantly active, grabbing sailors wherever they could find them (this would eventually be the primary cause of the War of 1812 with the United States). Even had the trade had been possible, there were not enough crews to supply all the merchant ships.
If there were no ships in Ireland, it was less because of British regulations than because of Napoleon. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Leyd036

Possim Sits on 'Simmon Tree, De


DESCRIPTION: "De possim sits on 'simmon tree And feeds himself quite fat, Put Manly on de stump for me, I'm dog he'll soon leave dat." "I now must go an' pick my toof, It akes so very bad, but since Reid's our Governor forsooth, I feels my pain so bad."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1850 (North Carolina Gazette)
KEYWORDS: animal political
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 164, "De Possim Sits on 'Simmon Tree" (1 text)
NOTES: There is no reason to think this is a traditional song; it seems to have been a political piece from the 1850 North Carolina gubernatorial election, in which Democrat David Settle Reid (1813-1891) succeeded Charles Manley. If there was a significant issue in this campaign, I have been unable to discover it.
It does appear that Manley was a rather unimportant figure, compared to the distinguished Reid, who was congressman, governor, and Senator. - RBW
File: Br3164

Possum Am a Cunning Thing, De


See Raccoon (File: R260)

Possum and the Banjo, The


See De Fust Banjo (The Banjo Song; The Possum and the Banjo; Old Noah) (File: R253)

Possum Song, The


See Carve that Possum (File: R276)

Possum Sop and Polecat Jelly


See Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn) (File: R568)

Possum Up a Gum Stump


DESCRIPTION: "Possum up a gum stump, Cooney in a holler, Little gal at our house, Fat as she can waller." The first two lines are characteristic (though the animals can vary); the last two lines can seemingly be anything.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
BrownIII 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town")
Randolph 280, "Possum Up a Gum Stump" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 161, "Possum Up a Simmon Tree" (6 texts, all of a single stanza; some are probably not this piece, but they're too short to classify)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 177, (no title) (1 fragment)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 238, "Little Gal at Our House" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7782
RECORDINGS:
Hiter Colvin, "Rabbit Up the Gum Stump" (Victor V-40239, 1930/Montgomery Ward 8148, 1939)
Henry Truvillion, "Come On, Boys, and Let's Go to Huntin'" (AFS 3983 B2; on LC8)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Uncle Reuben" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bile Them Cabbage Down" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Lomax reports this as a "patting chant" -- sung to the accompaniment of hands clapping or slapping against the thighs. - RBW
File: R280

Post-Rail Song


DESCRIPTION: "Put 'em up solid, they won't come down! Hey, ma laddie, they won't come down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 138, "Post-Rail Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San138

Pot Wrassler, The


DESCRIPTION: The camp cook tells cowboys he spent years riding the range but "now I'm a-wrassling the pots for a change." He can make sourdough and sort the big rocks out of the beans, and doesn't wipe the frying-pan on his jeans. He's old now and prefers this life
AUTHOR: Curley Fletcher
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Curley Fletcher, "Songs of the Sage")
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a camp cook, tells cowboys he has put in a lot of years riding the range but "now I'm a-wrassling the pots for a change." He doesn't claim to be Delmonico, but he can make sourdough and sort the big rocks out of the beans, and doesn't wipe the frying-pan on his jeans. He's old and stiff now and prefers staying by the fire to riding and getting thrown
KEYWORDS: age disability work food nonballad cook worker
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
RECORDINGS:
Harry Jackson, "The Pot Wrassler" (on HJackson1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Punchin' the Dough" (theme)
NOTES: The cook on a cattle run was usually an old cowboy who could no longer do the work. It's hardly surprising that he looked on the cowboys as "kids" -- nor that he used his control over the chuck to keep the cowboys in line.
"Delmonico" is Lorenzo Delmonico (1813-1881), a Swiss immigrant who came to the United States in 1832 and largely established the upscale restaurant as a business form in America. - RBW
File: RcPotWra

Potato Bug, The


DESCRIPTION: "It's just past ten years ... Since we heard of that plague of a fly." Every morning "I'll shake every stalk" and the bugs fall into his pan. As quickly as he catches them "they'll be over the sides" and escape. He should "carry a pan of hot coals"
AUTHOR: Lawrence Doyle
EARLIEST DATE: 1969 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: farming ordeal nonballad bug hardtimes
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 202-203, 253, "The Potato Bug" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13994
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "[The potato bug] began arriving on the Island in significant numbers in the late 1880s." - BS
File: IvSC202

Potato, The


DESCRIPTION: "We have a loyal little friend, the potato," brought by Sir Walter Raleigh. Though there are varieties with fancy names, all are good. The singer hopes "our planters will plant more ... They are a vital food today in which we all must share"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: food Ireland nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 81, "The Potato" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Potato" (theme)
NOTES: Was this song written before or after 1845? The answer would be interesting.
The legend that Sir Walter Raleigh brought the potato to Europe is just that: Legend. There is no doubt that the plant came originally from South America, but no one knows who transported it across the Atlantic.
The dependence of Ireland on the potato was of course not voluntary. With the English having subdivided the Catholic lands into areas too small for proper farming, and with the rent laws making land improvements impossible (if a Catholic improved the land, his rent went up), there was no choice but to grow potatoes; it was the only food productive enough to support a family on the tiny plots the Irish were allowed.
Of course, potatoes needed little help from the growers, so the English accused the Irish of laziness -- but they had little choice. Especially with the population so high; even on improved land, it would have been hard to support the people of Ireland in the 1840s without the potato.
All that, of course, changed with the Great Hunger in the 1840s. - RBW
File: OLcM081

Potter and Robin Hood, The


See Robin Hood and the Potter [Child 121] (File: C121)

Potterton


DESCRIPTION: There's no watch or clock needed at Potterton: "It was porridge time, and sowen time, And -- Come, lads, yoke." "Wi' cauld kail and tatties Ye feed us like a pig; While ye drink tay and toddy, And hurl [drive] in yer gig"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work food ordeal nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #161, p. 2, ("The folk o' the muckle toon o' Rora") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan3 392, "Potterton" (2 texts)
Roud #5924
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 385 quoting Robertson, Song Notes: ." .. a protest of servants against the treatment they got." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GdD3392

Poulduff Fishermen, The


DESCRIPTION: On July 11 "a maid divine in tears approached me." Three sons had been drowned when their boat struck the wrecked Perseverance and sank. Some were rescued by "James Fitzsimmons and ... his worthy crew." The drowned men are named.
AUTHOR: Mogue Doyle
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 1, 1880 - "Poulduff fishermen were lost ... when their craft struck the wreck of the Perseverance" (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 52)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 18-20, "The Poulduff Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Poulduff is on the northeast coast of County Wexford. - BS
File: Ran018

Poulshone Fishermen, The


DESCRIPTION: A maid reports the disaster: April 3, 1863, at Courtown Harbour, four Poulshone boys drown "when a sudden squall capsized their yawl." Redmond and Kelly are rescued by "young Clancy and his crew" but Earle and Leary are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 102-103, "The Poulshone Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Poulshone and Courtown are on the northern coast of Wexford. - BS
File: Ran102

Pound of Tow, The


DESCRIPTION: "A single man is free from strife." Before he and his wife married she "could do all kinds of country work" including spinning a pound of tow every night. Now she won't spin and spends on fashion instead and pawns his clothes to support her pride.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1841 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(250))
KEYWORDS: marriage clothes husband wife money
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1301, "The Weary Pun' o' Tow" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(250), "The Pound of Tow" ("Come all ye jolly batchelors that would married be"), J. Jennings (London), 1790-1840
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "She's Aye Tease, Teasin'" (theme: the wife who won't spin) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Come All Ye Jovial Bachelors
NOTES: GreigDuncan7: .".. received by Mrs Harper from a sister of her father's, Mrs Jaffray, Mintlaw. Mrs Jaffrays mother (Mrs Harper's grandmother) had learnt it when a girl at Midmar: she was born about 1800." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71301

Poupore's Shanty Crew


DESCRIPTION: Describing life at the lumber camp of Tom Poupore "on the twenty-eighth of October in 1884." The crew builds a shanty. They celebrate the cook. The leaders of the team, and some of the members, are named. The singer concludes with a toast to the crew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger lumbering work
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #9, "Poupore's Shanty Crew" (1 text, tune referenced)
ST FowL09 (Partial)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (theme, tune)
File: FowL09

Pourquoi


See The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat) (File: K295)

Powder Monkey, The (Soon We'll Be in England Town)


DESCRIPTION: Jim was powder monkey killed on board Victory. In '98 "we chased the foe right into Bourky Bay" and destroyed their flag ship Orient. Jim was killed by musket "as the fight was just on won." He asks the crew "Give a kiss to dear old mother."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia); 19C (broadside, Bodleian LOCSinging as111260)
KEYWORDS: battle navy death sea ship mother
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 1, 1798 - Nelson defeats the French in Aboukir Bay, Egypt
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Creighton-NovaScotia 57, "Chanty Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 148, "The Powder Monkey" (1 text, 1 tune-chorus only)
GreigDuncan1 144, "The Battle of Aboukir Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS057 (Full)
Roud #1799
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as111260, "The Powder Monkey," unknown, 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Heiland Laddie" (similar chorus)
NOTES: Creighton-NovaScotia has a verse and chorus as a chanty.
The "powder monkey" job could be handled by women and boys "whose task it was to pass gunpowder up from the magazine to the gunners" (see source for Aboukir Bay, below)
Nelson in Vanguard led the defeat of the French and their flagship L'Orient at Aboukir Bay in the Egyptian campaign in August 1798. (Source: Nelson and the Nile; Part 3: A victory at Aboukir Bay by John Woolford "originally published in Military History Magazine August 1998" per the African History site)
HMS Victory, while commissioned in 1778, was not in service in 1798. Nelson's [service in] Victory began in 1803 and continued until his death at Trafalgar in 1805 (Source: HMS Victory site) - BS
Hugill calls this a "shore sea-song" possibly from the music-hall, believes that it dates from the 1840s, and that it bears some relationship to "Donkey Riding." - SL
Last updated in version 2.4
File: CrNS057

Powder River (I - Lazy River)


DESCRIPTION: "Last time on that lazy old river... I met a girl who was more like heaven And her smile will last forevermore." He courts her and plans to take her away from the river, but a "spirit of the water" struck back; he mourns her amid the ruins of the flood
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love courting river disaster flood death grief
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 61, "Powder River" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11076
File: FCW061

Powder River Jack


DESCRIPTION: A description of Powder River Jack Lee, the cowboy singer, and his wife Kitty Lee. Jack was "not a boozer, and he never cared for cards," and he "loved his pretty Kitty" -- but "the old Sky Boss was needin' One more top hand," and Jack is killed
AUTHOR: "Colorado Bill"
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 ("Hoofs and Horns" magazine)
KEYWORDS: death cowboy recitation
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1946 - Death of Powder River Jack Lee in a car accident
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 38, "Powder River Jack" (1 text)
File: Ohr038

Powder River, Let 'Er Buck


DESCRIPTION: "Powder river, let 'er buck, A surgin' mass of cattle, Roundup wagons full of chuck, Horns and hooves a-rattle...." A description of the cows, horses, and cowboys to be met during a cattle drive.
AUTHOR: Powder River Jack Lee?
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Powder River Jack & Kitty Lee)
KEYWORDS: cowboy horse work travel nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 40, "Powder River, Let 'er Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11524
RECORDINGS:
Powder River Jack & Kitty Lee, "Powder River, Let 'Er Buck" (Victor 23527, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4462, 1934; on AuthCowboys)
NOTES: The phrase "Powder River, let 'er buck" was the motto of a Wyoming division (comprised largely of cowboys) during World War I. Powder River Jack Lee claims to have composed the song, and there is no evidence to the contrary -- but the slogan must have come from somewhere. - RBW
File: Ohr040

Powderhorn


DESCRIPTION: "Out in the West you have often heard said The only good paint horse is one that is dead." The singer sets out to disprove the rule, describing the purchase of a cutting horse, Miss Aledo, that does a spectacular job
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: horse work cowboy commerce
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 70, "Powderhorn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11075
NOTES: A cutting horse is used to cut off a steer from the herd. A good horse can make a cowboy's task much easier by outguessing the cattle. - RBW
File: FCW070

Powers of Whisky, The


DESCRIPTION: "There's nothing like whisky Makes Irishmen frisky" and girls also, even if sick. If a maid rejects you "drink enough, you'll find charms in a dozen beside ... you'll think you're in love with each girl that you meet." Whisky can subdue any grief.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1839 (Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: love drink nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 75-76, "The Powers of Whisky" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kinnegard Slashers" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
File: CrPS075

Prairie Grove


DESCRIPTION: "Come ye gallant sons of I-o-way, come listen to my song... About the gallant charge at Prairie Grove, An' we an' Southern rebels on equal numbers strove." The singer describes a federal victory, the burial of the southern dead, and their widows' mourning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Randoph)
KEYWORDS: battle soldier death Civilwar
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 7, 1862 - Battle of Prairie Grove
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 222, "Prairie Grove" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 205-207, "Prairie Grove" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 222)
Roud #4032
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Give the Dutch Room" (subject)
NOTES: The battle of Prairie Grove was one of the more confusing messes of the Civil War. It had little effect on the main war effort (though it contributed significantly to the Union conquest of Arkansas), and so is rarely mentioned in the histories. The battle came about because the Union forces of Schofield's "Army of the Frontier" were scattered.
Two divisions, under Herron, were located near Springfield, Missouri; another, under Blunt, was in an advanced position south of Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Confederate general Hindman, observing this deployment, saw an opportunity to defeat the Unionists in detail. He took his force -- somewhat smaller than the combined Union forces but much stronger than Blunt alone -- and on Dec. 6 attacked Blunt.
Unknown to Hindman, Herron's force had been ordered forward a few days earlier. When Hindman learned that Herron was approaching, he tried to get between the two Union forces.
It didn't work. Herron managed to hold off Hindman until Blunt arrived. The Confederates -- many of them raw Arkansas troops who deserted at the beginning of the battle -- wound up abandoning the field. The battle was not a great Union success, but neither was it a great defeat. In the aftermath, they were able to occupy a large part of northern Arkansas.
This song is item dA38 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW- RBW
File: R222

Praise of Christmas, The


See Drive the Cold Winter Away (In Praise of Christmas) (File: Log293)

Praise of Kinsale, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer is "a poor fisherman" praising "his own native town of Kinsale." There's "a Royal Hotel," races, dances, billiards, and cards. There are cold baths for fitness, hot baths for cures, "or if you're in health, just come here for a frolic"
AUTHOR: John Lander (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1831 (Haly broadside, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: commerce gambling sports dancing nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 215-217, "The Praise of Kinsale" (1 text)
NOTES: Kinsale and Mallow are in County Cork.
Croker-PopularSongs: "This satirical song ["The Praise of Kinsale"], with the subsequent reply to it ["Kinsale versus Mallow"], are given from a broadside purchased by the Editor in 1831, at the shop of Haly, a ballad printer in Hanover Street, Cork. The were respectively entitled, 'Paddy Farrell, of Kinsale, to his Friend at Mallow;' and 'Answer of Thady Mullowny, of Mallow, to Paddy Farrell, Kinsale.'" - BS
File: CrPS215

Praise of Ploughmen, The


DESCRIPTION: "Ye lads and lasses a' draw near, I'm sure it will delight your ear... To sing the praise o' ploughmen." Workers at other occupations may regard themselves as better, but the ploughman feeds them. The girl choruses, "Happy is the ploughman's jo."
AUTHOR: John Anderson
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3); Grieg reports that it was written c. 1850
KEYWORDS: farming worker food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #164, pp. 1-2, "The Praise of Ploughmen" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 447, "The Praise of Ploughmen" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 242-243, "The Praise of Ploughmen" (1 text)
Roud #5579
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laddie That Handles the Ploo" (theme)
cf. "The Farmer is the Man" (theme)
cf. "Johnnie Cope" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
cf. "Come All You Jolly Ploughboys" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Britain's Isle
The Labours o' the Plooman
The Plooman
NOTES: Greig: ." .. written about the middle of last century, or perhaps somewhat earlier." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord242

Praise of Waterford, The


DESCRIPTION: "Waterford, thow loyall cytie" has been honored by Henry II, chartered by John, affirmed by Henry III, and so forth, through Henry VIII. "Quia to semper intacta manes" ends each verse echoing the Waterford motto.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1824 (Ryland, _History of Waterford_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: royalty political Ireland
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 312-320, "The Praise of Waterford" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 154-155, "The Praise of Waterford" (1 text, excerpted from Croker)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mayor of Waterford's Letter" (structure)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "The motto of 'Urbs intacto manet Waterfordia' ... was conferred on the city, with other honours, by Henry VII., for the conduct of the mayor and citizens against Perkin Warbeck."
"... there was soon to be another impostor [to Henry VII's crown after Lambert Simnel (see 'The Mayor of Waterford's Letter')], Master Perkin Warbeck from Tournai, whom the men of Cork felt convinced was Richard of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower." (Williams/Fraser, p. 171)
Croker-PopularSongs: "The date of this composition is satisfactorily fixed, by the twentieth and twenty-second verses, to be about 1545. In the former, Henry VIIIth's present to the city of Waterford of a sword of justice in 1523, is spoken of as "lately sent;" and in the latter, the term 'our triumphant king' (which would scarcely be applied to Edward VI), must have been written subsequent to 1541, when Henry assumed the title of King of Ireland." - BS
It seems unlikely (to put it mildly) that this was a genuine folk song -- but it is an interesting curiosity, because the manuscript of it contains marginal notes. These are not uncommon in manuscripts of, say, the Bible -- but rarely in poetry!
Still, if the scribe felt the urge for footnotes, how can I resist?
"Henry the Second, that noble Kinge" -- Henry II Plantagenet, reigned 1154-1189. Henry came to Ireland in 1171, taking advantage of local strife to build an enclave on the east coast; he invaded following the invasion of his own vassal the Earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow (Golway, p. 11).
The reference to his son's honor is presumably to Henry's fourth son John, the future King John. Henry, during his life, divided up his kingdom (England, much of France, and Ireland) among his four sons. John was given Ireland -- though he quickly got himself in trouble by making fun of the native chieftains's appearance (Harvey, p. 52). John would reign over England and Ireland from 1199 to 1216, following the reign of his older brother Richard I (now usually known as Richard the Lion-Hearted, but at the time, he was likely to be called "Richard Yes-and-No," because he was so wishy-washy).
John's son was Henry III, who would face the rebellion of Simon de Montfort; he came to the throne as a boy, and so had a very long reign, 1216-1272.
Edward the First, reigned 1272-1307, was known for the work he did in organizing and codifying the laws of England; he did indeed grant many charters. "His son" was Edward II, reigned 1307-1327, when he was deposed.
"Edward the Third, of tryumph most abundante," was the son of Edward II, and reigned 1327-1377. His triumphs were indeed abundant, though they in the end amounted to little: He started the Hundred Years' War, in the process of which he captured the Scottish king David II (Seward-Hundred, p. 69) he won the great Battle of Crecy against the French in 1346 (Seward-Roses, pp. 63-68), captured Calais (Harvey, p. 141) and finally, after his son the Black Prince had captured the King of France at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 (Myers, pp. 24-25), negotiated the Treaty of Bretigny which gave England theoretical sovereignty over a third of France (Seward-Hundred, pp. 99-101, plus the map on p. 266).
The flip side is, Edward's reign also witnessed the Black Death (Myers, pp. 23-24), which -- apart from killing a large fraction of the population -- devastated the already-strained English treasury; England captured much of France, but proved unable to hold it; by 1374, Edward was "drink-sodden and used up," (Seward-Hundred, p. 115), and there was a struggle over control of the government (Myers, pp. 28-29), which ended with the triumph of the king's son Edward the Black Prince -- who, however, died in 1376 (from what sounds rather like malaria, acquired perhaps in an invasion of Spain).
The conquest of France was already unraveling by the time of their deaths. Ashley, p. 604, says that Edward's "final year was spent in much loneliness and sadness aware that the administration about him was crumbling."
With the Black Prince dead, as well as Edward's second son Lionel (dead, perhaps of overindulgence, in 1368 shortly after wedding his second wifeViolante Visconte; Saunders, pp. 134-135; on page 138, Saunders mentions speculation that Lionel was poisoned to reduce English influence in Italy), the throne passed to the Black Prince's son, the boy Richard II (ascended 1377, deposed 1399, died, probably murdered, 1400).
Richard had a very difficult minority, with English conquests in France slowly being lost and his barons quarreling. It didn't help that he was without a true heir; his first marriage was childless and, when his beloved first wife died, he apparently almost went mad (Harvey, p. 156). He eventually took as his second wife a very young French princess who was years from childbearing age.
Harvey, p. 157, says that Richard made a very constructive visit to Ireland in 1394-1395, but soon after, he turned into a tyrant. When his uncle John of Gaunt died in early 1399, the last restraint on his behavior was lifted (Harvey, p. 159). Richard took over the vast Lancaster estates of Duke John (who had ruled what was almost a kingdom within a kingdom), thus disinheriting Gaunt's son Henry of Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke had already been exiled by Richard, and this was the final straw. When Richard took another trip to Ireland in 1399, Henry invaded England, and the despotic Richard had angered so many barons that Henry had no trouble taking over.
Henry ruled 1399-1413, but was never easy on the throne (Harvey, p. 163); he was not Richard's proper heir. (His claim, recall, came through Edward III's third son John, but the second son Lionel had left descendants by his first marriage. It's just that they were too young and powerless to be contenders for the succession in 1399.) Henry IV was unable to do anything about the disastrous situations in France and Ireland; it was all he could do to control his own barons and the Welsh revolt of Owen Glendower.
The song does not clearly distinguish between Henry IV and his offspring, but the "lusty Henry that conquered France" is Henry V (1413-1422). He didn't exactly conquer France, since there was still a portion that was independent -- but his battles did cause him to be declared the heir to the French throne in 1420 (Ashley, p. 611). Unfortunately, he died only two years later, leaving only a baby, the future Henry VI, as heir. (Incidentally, Henry V was *not* lusty; many English kings left a large collection of bastards, but Henry V seems to have been almost monkish in his habits; there is no record of any bastards, and little evidence of affairs; Earle, p. 87. He even dressed like a priest; Allmand, p. 438.)
If Henry V was less than worldly, Henry VI surely qualifies as the most out-of-it King in English history to that time. (The English did not start inbreeding the way most continental monarch did until the Hannoverian Succession in 1714. As a result, English monarchs were mostly sane, if often utterly wrong-headed. There were only two major instances of genetic defectives in the English royal family: Henry VI, who was the son of Katherine of France, the daughter of Charles the Mad -- and the descendants of Henry VII, who were *also* descendants of Charles the Mad; after Henry V died, Katherine formed a common-law marriage with Owen Tudor; their grandson was Henry VII.)
The song calls Henry VI "Henry the Holly [holy], that borne was in Wyndsore." This is perhaps an attempt to cover up his notorious incapacity. But it was just that -- incapacity. He may not actually have been mentally retarded, but he certainly lacked the power of decision needed to rule (Ashley, p. 614), and at various times in the 1450s, he went mad. Inactivity was confused for piety by some, but there is no actual evidence that Henry was in any sense extraordinary in holiness. And, because he was always being pushed around by his advisors, he could be made to decree anything.
The song completely fails to note that "Edward the Strong" (Edward IV, reigned 1461-1470 and 1471-1483) deposed Henry VI (though Henry was briefly restored 1470-1471 before being re-deposed -- and, this time, killed). Edward IV was certainly the rightful King of England -- but he was merely a third cousin, twice over, several times removed, of Henry VI. He was able to take the throne only because Henry was incompetent to keep it. Thus, citing both Henry VI and Edward IV is about like citing charters from both Ahura Mazda and Ahriman -- some owe allegiance to one, some to the other, but few will recognize the authority of both.
Of course, that's nothing to calling Henry VII "Henry the Valiant." The guy never truly commanded a battle; the only major fight where he was present was the Battle of Bosworth, where he overthrew Richard III -- and most authorities agree that it was the Earl of Oxford who had field command (e.g. Gillingham, p. 244; Kendall, p. 435, or the notes to "The Children in the Wood (The Babes in the Woods)" [Laws Q34]). Henry's primary activity was to avoid getting killed when Richard III made his death-or-glory charge which was so noteworthy that not even Shakespeare could get it wrong. (Which is amazing, since the only other thing Shakespeare got right in "Richard III" was the names "Edward," "Henry," and "George.")
Valiant or not, Henry managed to take the throne (for details, see e.g. "The Rose of England.") But it was a shaky throne; he faced many revolts, and two major plus several minor pretenders. For the problems Henry faced up to the time of the first major pretender, Lambert Simnel [referred to in the song as "Lambart [who] was crowned by false advertence"], as well as how Waterford stuck by Henry, see the notes to "The Mayor of Waterford's Letter." But not even crushing two revolts (Stafford's and Lambert's) spelled peace for Henry VII; the country was just too restive and he was just too efficient about collecting taxes (it was in his reign that the infamous Morton's Fork was invented -- named for John Morton, who came to be Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor. The Fork was a trick used by tax collectors: If a man lived in luxury, he had money which could be taxed; if he lived in poverty, he was saving money which could be taxed). Much of the country, for one reason or another, wanted a different king.
Kendall, p. 477, says that there had been "at least three other 'feigned boys.'" But the three after Lambert were quickly dealt with. Not so imposter #5. In 1491, Henry was confronted with the most serious pretender of all, Perkin Warbeck (called "Parkin" in the song). Warbeck was an interesting case, because several witnesses said he actually looked like a member of the House of York (Weir, p. 239; Poole, p.17). It's not impossible that he was an illegitimate son of Edward IV (who sowed enough wild oats to supply an entire stable of horses), but there doesn't seem to be any evidence for this, and Weir, p. 241, thinks it unlikely. She mentions a possibility that he was Richard III's son (a possibility also mentioned by Poole, p. 17) -- but the one Plantagenet whom Warbeck did *not* resemble was the short, dark Richard III.
According to Seward-Roses, p. 322, "'Pierrequin Werbecque' was born in Tournai in about 1474, the son of a boatman. Weir, p. 241, says that he eventually admitted to being "the son of John Warbeck, or Osbeck, and Katherine de Faro, his wife, both converted Jews living in Tournai where John was a minor official. When Peter (or Peterkin, as he was known) was small, the family lived for a time in London, where John Warbek earned a living by suppling carpets to the royal court."
Whatever Warbeck's early history, he apparently arrived in Ireland in 1491 as the servant of a Breton silk merchant and, while walking through the streets of Cork dressed in his master's splendid clothes (Seward-Roses, p. 322; Weir, p. 242, describes him as modeling the outfits), was taken for a member of the Yorkist royal family."
Apparently that was enough for Warbeck and those around him. According to Weir, p. 236, he briefly claimed to be the Earl of Warwick, the son of King Edward IV's younger brother George of Clarence. Henry VII in his propaganda said that he also listed himself as the son of Richard III. But he soon settled upon the identity of Richard of York, the younger of Edward IV's two sons. (Probably he decided to adopt the persona of Richard, the younger of the Princes in the Tower, rather than Edward, the older, because they were close in age, or because Edward V had been known to more people. But it is interesting to note that, if the bones said to be those of the Princes are indeed theirs -- and there can be no proof either way until the British Royal Family gives permission for DNA testing -- the elder suffered from dental problems that might well have killed him. So Richard was the prince more likely to still be alive. It is hard to imagine how Warbeck could have known that, however.)
Quite a few of the monarchs of Europe recognized him -- including, for a time, the King of France (Weir, p. 236). Henry finally talked Charles VIII out of supporting the pretender, but the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, and her stepson-in-law, the Duke Maximillian, recognized him and gave him shelter in Flanders. The Dowager Duchess was the sister of Edward IV, and must have known he was a pretender (Poole, p. 17, says that she in fact helped coach him) -- but evidently would have preferred anyone to Henry VII. Apart from being an usurper, Henry VII had confiscated her English estates, according to Poole, p. 18.
In 1493, Warbeck returned to Ireland, that hotbed of Yorkist sympathy (Weir, p. 237). Henry VII sent Lord Poynings to Ireland in 1494 to stop him. Poynings did not manage to catch Warbeck -- but he did drive him back to Flanders, plus he forced the Irish parliament to pass Poynings' Law, which all but destroyed the Irish parliament; the English crown was given the right to control its meetings and negate any legislation which affected anything outside Ireland (Fry/Fry, p. 103). This particular law was responsible for many of the problems of Ireland over the next three centuries.
By 1495, Henry had rounded up just about all of Warbeck's English followers (Weir, p. 237; Seward-Roses, p. 322, claims he learned who they were by bribing a former Yorkist knight), and even executed Sir William Stanley (Kendall, p. 457) -- the man who, a decade earlier, had killed Richard III and put Henry on the throne! (Seward-Roses, p. 322, considers it significant that Stanley,who always had an eye to his own profit, thought Warbeck enough of a threat to Henry as to support him. It certainly is interesting -- but I'm not convinced Stanley *did* support Warbeck. Being William Stanley, he may have simply tried to have a foot in both camps. But Henry -- unlike his relatively merciful predecessor Richard III, who always forgave the Stanleys -- wouldn't allow such things. Besides, he may have wanted Sir William's money; Poole, p. 18. For the whole Stanley mess, see the notes to "The Vicar of Bray" plus, again, the notes to "The Children in the Wood".)
When Warbeck attempted to land in England, he was driven off (Seward-Roses, p. 323); he then headed for Waterford, but Poynings drove him back; finally, he ended up in Scotland, where James IV took him in but then came to dislike him and made him unwelcome; he headed once more for Ireland in 1497 (Weir, p. 238; Seward-Roses, p. 323). He finally managed to land in Cornwall ( which had risen in rebellion over Henry's impossible taxes), but when Henry's army arrived, Warbeck fled, was captured, and for a time was treated well. But he tried to escape, and was captured again, tortured, and placed in close confinement near the very Earl of Warwick he had once impersonated (Seward-Roses, p. 323).
Weir, p. 238, speculates that this was deliberate -- the government was trying to lure them into a conspiracy. Certainly the government detected one (even though Warwick was considered feeble-minded (Kendall, p. 349; Weir, p. 239; Seward-Roses, p. 324; Poole, p. 21 says that he was "of mediocre intelligence (if not a simpleton) and suffered from grave defects of character," while Potter, p. 168, quotes a contemporary report that he could not "tell a goose from a capon"), and both were executed in 1499.
As Poole, p. 21, says, Warwick's only crime was being the last (legitimate) male Plantagenet. At least, as a member of the nobility, he was merely beheaded; Warbeck was hung, drawn, and quartered. To give Henry his minimal due, he was kind enough not to persecute Warbeck's wife (Poole, p. 22); he even gave her a pension.
Seward-Roses, p. 324, mentions Francis Bacon's belief that Warwick was killed because Ferdinand of Aragon had refused to marry his daughter to Henry VII's son until all possible Plantagenet pretenders were eliminated; as long as any were alive, there would be plots.
Before his execution, Warbeck confessed -- or at least was said to have confessed -- that he was not the son of Edward IV. Warwick's turn followed soon after (Seward-Roses, p. 324, mentions the coming of another false Warwick, named Ralph Wulford, as helping to prompt this), without any such notable confession. The last great threat to Henry VII's illegitimate kingship was done.
Could Warbeck have displaced Henry? It's an interesting question. After 1495, he had no chance. But there might have been a possibility in 1494 or 1495. So it was pretty significant when Waterford kept him from landing in Ireland.
Although one might argue that this marked the pinnacle of Waterford's career, the song does not end there. Having already praised the unwarlike Henry VII, it proceeds to the reign of his son Henry VIII (reigned 1509-1547), whom it calls "Henry the Tryumphant." Pretty good for a king who never really participated in a battle. (Maybe it refers to the fact that he didn't face any rebellions.) Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII, and did not become crown prince until his older brother died, so he was given more clerical than military training (Ashley, p. 630). Henry did lead an army to invade France, conducting a couple of successful sieges and winning the so-called "Battle of the Spurs," (Ashley, p. 631) -- but this 1513 "victory" was really only a cavalry skirmish, and Henry then allowed himself to be bought off. A much more notable victory at this time was the English defeat of the Scots at Flodden (for which see, e.g., "The Flowers of the Forest"), but Henry had no part in that; it was the Howard Earl of Surrey who commanded the English force. Henry did go on to fight France in later years, but he did not lead the armies and there was little real fighting anyway.
It seems clear that Henry VIII was still king at the time of this song, though, so little wonder that it buttered him up. -RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: CrPS312

Praise, Member


DESCRIPTION: "Praise, member, praise God, I praise my Lord until I die. Praise, member, praise God, And reach the heavenly home." "Jordan's bank is a good old bank." "O soldier's fight is a good old fight." "I look to the east and I look to the west."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad soldier floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 4, "Praise, Member" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11859
File: AWG004A

Praises of Limerick, The


DESCRIPTION: Limerick "for true generosity, honour, fidelity ... one of us is worth ten of you [from nearby towns]." Our shopkeepers "charge us extravagant" but never "more than his conscience should bear." Our proper wives are "so dressy, so flirtish, so talkative"
AUTHOR: Dr MacDonnell (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1793 (_Anthologia Hibernica_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 228-230, "The Praises of Limerick" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Name is Molly Macky" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs quoting the Memoirs of Sir James Campbell notes that MacDonnell's satirical song was not taken well in Limerick and "the young doctor was fain to make his escape in the night time, and never return." - BS
File: CrPS228

Praties They Grow Small, The


See Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small) (File: SBoA148)

Praties, The


See Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small) (File: SBoA148)

Pray All the Member


DESCRIPTION: "Pray all the member, O Lord, Pray all the member, Yes my Lord." "Pray a little longer." "Jericho da worry me." "Jericho, Jericho." "I been to Jerusalem." "Patrol all around me." "Thank God he no catch me." "Jump along Jericho."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 35, "Pray All de Member" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11990
File: AWG035

Pray On


DESCRIPTION: "Pray on, pray on, Pray on them light over us, Pray on, pray on, The Union break of day. My sister, you come to see baptize In the Union break of day; My loved sister, you come to see baptize, In the Union break of day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 97, "Pray On" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12053
File: AWG097A

Pray, Pretty Miss


DESCRIPTION: "Pray, pretty Miss, will you come out to help us in our dancing?" She says "no" They say she is naughty and ask another girl. She says "yes" and they are happy with "a good miss"/"Jolly old lass" for dancing.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1570, "Wha'll Come into My Wee Hoose?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12966
NOTES: This feels like it was a singing game at some time in its past. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81570

Preacher and the Bear, The


DESCRIPTION: (Black) preacher goes hunting; he meets a grizzly bear. He climbs a tree and pleads with God (who delivered Daniel, Jonah, etc.) "if you can't help me/for goodness sakes don't help that bear" The limb breaks; he gets his razor out and fights
AUTHOR: Officially credited to Joe Arzonia
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (recordings, Arthur Collins, although he may have recorded it as early as 1903)
KEYWORDS: hunting humorous animal clergy
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 425, "The Preacher and the Bear" (2 short texts)
Shellans, pp. 80-81, "The Preacher and the Bear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4967
RECORDINGS:
Al Bernard, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Brunswick 312, 1929; Supertone S-2057, 1930; rec. 1928) (Harmony 645-H, 1928) (Vocalion 15643, 1927)
Virgil Childers, "Preacher and the Bear" (Bluebird B-7487, 1938)
Arthur Collins, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Victor 4431, 1905) (Victor 17221, 1912; Montgomery Ward M-8128, 1939; rec. 1908 [possibly with Byron Harlan]) (Zon-O-Phone 120, 1905) Columbia A307/Standard A307/United A307, 1909; Kalamazoo 7016, n.d.; Oxford 120, c. 1911; Aretino D-608, n.d.; rec. 1905) (Columbia A2290, 1917) (Busy Bee D-27, n.d.; Busy Bee A-1076, c. 1903) (Rex 5073, c. 1913) (Edison 50520, 1919) (Silvertone 2026, c. 1920) (CYL: Edison 9000, 1905) (CYL: Edison [BA]18, 1908) (CYL: Albany 3193, n.d.) (CYL: Edison [BA] 1560, 1912) (Majestic 105, 1917) (Par-O-Ket 28, 1917) (CYL: Columbia 32720, prob. 1905)
Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, "Preacher and the Bear" (Bluebird B-7205, 1937; Victor 27322, 1941; Victor [Canada] 27322, 1941)
Honeyboy & Sassafras, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Brunswick 585, 1931; rec. 1930)
Kentucky Thorobreds, "Preacher and the Bear" (Paramount 3036, 1927; Broadway 8128 [as Old Smokey Twins], n.d.)
John McGhee, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Gennett 6403/Challenge 392 [as George Holden], 1928)
Poplin Family, "The Preacher and the Bear" (on Poplin1)
Jesse Oakley, "Preacher and the Bear" (Supertone 9256, 1928)
Riley Puckett, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Columbia 15045-D, 1925) (Bluebird B-8083/Montgomery Ward M-7904, 1939)
Uncle Joe & his Banjo, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Cameo 1272/Romeo 506, 1927)
Unidentified baritone [prob. Arthur Collins], "The Preacher and the Bear" (CYL: Busy Bee 241, prob. 1905)
Albert Whelan, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Zonophone [UK], 1911)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
Golden Gate Quartet, "Stalin Wasn't Stalling" (OKeh 6712, 1943)
NOTES: According to a biographer of Arthur Collins, although the song is often credited to Joe
Arzonia, he seems to have purchased the rights from the actual composer, George Fairman, a piano player who worked in the cafe Arzonia owned.
This song has become popular in the folk revival, inevitably without the reference to the preacher as a "coon" which places this in the minstrel tradition. (The Poplins use the word, though.) Its vaudeville/minstrel/coon song origins are clear in the earliest recording by Arthur Collins, a well-known performer in those genres.
Clearly Arthur Collins had little use for exclusive contracts in 1905 or thereafter.
The World War II parody, "Stalin Wasn't Stalling," has Hitler begging, "Oh Lord, if you can't help me, don't help that Russian bear." - PJS
File: RcPatB

Preacher and the Slave, The


DESCRIPTION: The preacher comes and tells the hungry, downtrodden workers, "You will eat, by and bye, In that glorious land above the sky. Work and pray; live on hay. You'll get pie in the sky when you die." The song calls on workers to overthrow the system
AUTHOR: Words: Joe Hill/Music: "Sweet By and By"
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (third edition of the Little Red Songbook, according to Stavis/Harmon)
KEYWORDS: clergy political work food rebellion labor-movement IWW derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Sandburg, p. 221, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 222, "Pie in the Sky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 856-857, "Pie in the Sky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 146-147, "Pie in the Sky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 185, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 375-376, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 306, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text)
DT, PRCHRSLV*
ADDITIONAL: (Barrie Stavis and Frank Harmon, editors), _The Songs of Joe Hill_, 1960, now reprinted in the Oak Archives series, pp. 10-11, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9612
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Charlie (Charlie Craver), "You'll Get Pie In The Sky When You Die" (Brunswick 392, c. 1929)
Bud Billings [pseud. for Frank Luther] & Carson Robison: "You'll Get Pie in the Sky When You Die" (Victor V-40221, 1930)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Long Haired Preachers (Preacher and the Slave)" (on McClintock01) (on McClintock02)
Pete Seeger, "Pie in the Sky" (on PeteSeeger05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet By and By" (tune)
NOTES: For the life of Joe Hill, see "Joe Hill." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: San221

Preacher in the Pulpit (I)


DESCRIPTION: "Preacher in the pulpit, Bible in his hand (x3), Devil in the meal-sack, shaking out bran." "Oh, Lordy, come this way (x3), Never let the (devil carry?) you away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious devil nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 342, "Preacher in the Pulpit" (1 short text)
File: Br3342

Preacher in the Pulpit (II)


DESCRIPTION: "Preacher's in de pulpit, Preachin' mighty bold, Preachin' for de money To save de sinner's soul." "I'm gwine de land on de shore (x3) And rest forevermo'." "When I gits in Heben, Want you to be there too; When I say, Thank God, I want you to say so too."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 343, "Preacher in de Pulpit" (1 short text)
Roud #11742
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We Will Land on Shore" (lyrics)
File: Br3343

Preacher's Legacy, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, if poor sinners did but know How much for them I undergo, they would not treat me with contempt...." The preacher sets out to work in other areas, knowing that it will bring challenges. He hopes to go to heaven in the end
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922
KEYWORDS: clergy travel
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
LPound-ABS, 105, pp. 216-217, "The Preacher's Legacy" (1 text)
ST LPnd216 (Full)
Roud #6560
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Preacher (Hick's Farewell)" (theme)
NOTES: The nineteenth century seems to have seen several of these "departing-preacher-tells-folks-what's-wrong" songs. Reading this piece, I thought of a Baptist preacher who was kicked out by his congregation for being too strict. - RBW
File: LPnd216

Precious Jewel


DESCRIPTION: "A jewel on earth and a jewel in heaven/She'll brighten the kingdom around God's great throne." Singer mourns the girl who promised to marry him. "The angels called her to heaven one night." Earth has troubles and treasures, but is missing one jewel
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (recording, Roy Acuff)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer mourns girl he once loved; when she was 16 they courted, and promised to marry, but "the angels called her to heaven one night." He laments that Mother Earth has troubles and treasures, but is missing one jewel. Cho: "A jewel on earth and a jewel in heaven/She'll brighten the kingdom around God's great throne...She's broken my heart and she's left me to roam"
KEYWORDS: grief loneliness courting love ring death mourning lament lover
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "The Precious Jewel" (Conqueror 9324, 1939/Okeh 05956, 1940)
Frank Bode, "Precious Jewel" (on FBode1)
Elton Britt, "The Precious Jewel" (Bluebird B-8666, 1941)
Delmore Bros. "Precious Jewel" (Decca 5970, 1941)
Wade Mainer, "The Precious Jewel" (Bluebird B-8887, 1941)
Esco Hankins, "The Precious Jewel" (King 648, 1947)
File: RcPrecJe

Precious Lord


DESCRIPTION: "Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am lost...." The sing prays that the Lord guide and protect him or her, and "lead me (home/on)" (to heaven)
AUTHOR: Thomas A. Dorsey
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (recording, Alphabetical Four)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Courlander-NFM, pp. 255-257, "" (1 text, probably partial; 1 tune)
DT, PRECLORD*
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "Precious Lord Hold My Hand" (Decca 7546, 1938; partial version on AlphabFour01)
Elder Effie Hall & congregation "Precious Lord, Hold My Hand" (on MuSouth09, Babylon)
Five Soul Stirrers, "Precious Lord" (Bronze 103, n.d.)
Brother Joe May [Thunderbolt of the Middle West], "Precious Lord" (Specialty 815, n.d.)
Selah Jubilee Quartet, "Precious Lord" (Decca 48003, rec. 1939)
Kinsey West, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" (on BlackAmRel1)
File: CNFM255

Precious Memories


DESCRIPTION: The singer looks back on events of the past: "Precious memories, how they linger, How they ever flood my soul." The singer gives thanks for the reminders
AUTHOR: probably John Wright
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Harbor Bells)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
Roud #4934
RECORDINGS:
Ellis & Dixon Spiritual & Vocal Group, "Precious Memories, pts. 1 & 2" (Chess 1642, 1956)
Wade Mainer, "Precious Memories" (Bluebird B-8848, 1941)
McDonald Quartet, "Precious Memories" (OKeh 45517, 1931; rec. 1930) (Banner 32592/Melotone 12520/Perfect 12852/Conqueror 8009, 1932)
Simmons Sacred Singers, "Precious Memories" (OKeh 45299, 1929; rec. 1928)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "Precious Memories" (Decca 48070, c. 1948)
Turkey Mountain Singers, "Precious Memories" (Bluebird B-5532, 1934)
Uncle Henry's Original Mountaineers, "Precious Memories" (Capitol 48035, 1949)
SAME TUNE:
Dreadful Memories (by Aunt Molly Jackson and/or Sarah Ogun Gunning) (Greenway-AFP, pp. 274-275; DT, DREDMEM; Darling-NAS, pp. 385-386)
NOTES: Richard Dress writes, "Penned by Texas songwriter John Wright in 1877, this Roy Acuff hit and Wade Mainer favorite was first published in V. O. Stamps first songbook Harbor Bells in 1925. The McDonald Quartette recorded it for Banner in 1932, the Royal Quartet for Decca in 1935, Claude Sharpe & the Old Hickory Singers for Columbia in 1945, and the Johnson Family Singers for Columbia in 1951 (crediting J. Wright)." - RBW
File: oooPrecM

Pree Her Honey Mou'


DESCRIPTION: Boy meets girl on the way to Brewe. He begins to lift her apron and kiss her mouth. She rejects him. He would leave. She says, if he's kind, maybe she'll lift her apron. They have sex but he leaves her at the fair. Moral: don't let men lift your apron.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting sex warning
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1407, "Pree Her Honey Mou'" (1 text)
Roud #7259
File: GrD71407

Prentice Boy (I), The


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

Prentice Boy (II), The


See The Apprentice Boy [Laws M12] (File: LM12)

Prentice Boy in Love, A


See The Sea Apprentice (File: HHH739)

Prentice Boy, The


See The Sea Apprentice (File: HHH739)

Prentice Boy's Love for Mary, The


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

Prentice's Drinking Song


See My Father Gave Me a Lump of Gold (Seven Long Years) (File: R834)

Presbyterian Cat, The (The Cameronian Cat)


DESCRIPTION: "There was an auld Seceder's cat, Gaed hunting for a prey, And ben the house she catched a mouse Upon the Sabbath day." The cat, returning home, is condemned by her owner for violating the Sabbath, read a lesson -- and executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: animal trial execution clergy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Hogg1 22, "The Cameronian Cat" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 689, "The Presbyterian Cat" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 319-321, "The Cameronian Cat" (1 text)
DT, CAMERCAT
Roud #4576
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Auld Seceder's Cat
NOTES: Hogg1: "This is another popular country song, and very old.... [It] is always sung by the wags in mockery of great pretended strictness of the Covenanters, which is certainly, in some cases, carried to an extremity rather ludicrous.... The air is very sweet, but has a strong resemblance to one of their popular psalm-tunes." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FVS319

Prescott's Confession


DESCRIPTION: Broadside. "Ye people all assembled here To see me suffer death, Draw near the guilty wretch and hear...." The singer denies insanity, tells how he lured his victim into the fields, describes his murder, and bids farewell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 1833 - "Prescott" murders his benefactor Sally Cochran and is apprehended by her husband
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 66-67, "Prescott's Confession of the Murder of MRS. SALLY COCHRAN, By a Private Individual at the Bar" (1 text, excerpted)
File: Burt066

Present Time is Oors, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come, let us a' be hearty boys, the moments we are here" because we may have only a few years, "maybe only hoors" Don't bother accumulating wealth. "Let ministers say what they will" but drink, as they do, "laugh and sing, The present time is oors"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: death drink music nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 550, "The Present Time is Oors" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6026
NOTES: It is perhaps mildly ironic to observe that the singer says to ignore ministers, yet this is very much like the message of Jesus's parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-20), who builds barns for all his wealth, but then is told by God, "Fool! This very night your life is demanded of you." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3550

President Wilson


DESCRIPTION: "Come out Virginia's noble son, We know that you are true, The people of our grand old land They have their hope in you... We'll cast our vote again." "A modest unassuming man." "And we shall win, our cause is just.... it's Wilson's name we hear."
AUTHOR: Words: John J. Friend
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Gray)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1912 - Woodrow Wilson becomes the Democratic nominee for President, and wins when Taft and Theodore Roosevelt split the Republican vote
1916 - Wilson re-elected
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gray, pp. 180-181, "President Wilson" (1 text)
NOTES: Presumably a campaign song, but a very strange one, containing neither significant facts nor any real slogans. The only connection with reality that I can see is the mention that Wilson came from Virginia; according to DeGregorio, p. 411, (Theodore) Woodrow Wilson "was born December 28, 1856 at the Presbyteriian manse in Staunton, Virginia." He wasn't much of a Virginian, however; his family soon moved to Georgia, and said that his first memory was when word came in Georgia that Lincoln had been elected President and that war was coming (DeGregorio, p. 411). His family later spent time in South and North Carolina. Wilson did regard himself as a southerner, even though he went to Princeton in 1875 and spent most of his life in the North.
Calling Wilson "unassuming" is a bit of a stretch; he didn't think much of his looks, or even of his ability to present himself (DeGregorio, p. 409), but he placed an extreme value on his moral judgment.
Wilson did become noteworthy at a fairly young age. Jameson, p. 717, sums up the first forty years of his life thus: "Wilson, Woodrow, born in 1856, professor at Princeton College, has become prominent for his writings upon political science. He wrote 'Congressional Government, a Study in American Politics," and 'The State;' also a historical book, 'Division and Reunion, 1830-1880.'"
Wilson had a very unusual career before running for president. He was a professor, lecturer, and author, not a politician (DeGregorio, p. 414). Ironically for the president in history's greatest war up to that time, he had no military experience at all -- he and his predecessor, William Howard Taft, were the only Presidents since Fillmore to have no military background at all when they became President. Wilson did apply for a State Department post in 1887, but didn't get it. His only political experience as President, therefore, was his single term as governor of New Jersey (1911-1913) -- although he had also been President of Princeton for eight years (DeGregorio, p. 414).
Wilson was very lucky to be nominated President. To give him his due, he did a good job of cleaning up the mare's nest of New Jersey politics (Morison, p. 839). But that was hardly enough to earn him a Presidential nomination -- except that the party was divided. It had "Bryan Progressives," it had Easterners (often immigrants), and it had the conservative South (Morison, p. 839). In 1912, a majority of the delegates were pledged to Champ Clark of Missouri. But the party required a two-thirds supermajority to nominate. And Clark could not achieve that, although he came very close -- so close that Wilson nearly dropped out of the contest. William Jennings Bryan, seeing that he could not earn the nomination himself, decided to back Wilson (Nevins/Commager, p. 405).
It still took 46 ballots to nominate Wilson. Bryan gave Wilson his support on ballot #14; Wilson finally gained a majority on ballot #28, but still had only a slight lead on ballot #45, when suddenly everyone seemed to get tired and turn to him (DeGregorio, p. 415).
And, in 1912, earning the Democratic nomination meant being elected, because the Republicans were split. William Howard Taft had been Theodore Roosevelt's hand-picked successor in 1908, and in many ways he proved progressive; Nevins/Commager, p. 404, note that "He stepped up the prosecution of trusts; strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission.... expanded the merit system in the civil service; and sponsored enactment of two amendments to the Federal Constitution -- one providing direct election of Senators, aniother authorizing an income tax."
But he was a sort of a frumpy liberal; a few measures, such as a tarriff he accepted, caused the progressive to turn against him. At the Republican convention of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt and Robert M. LaFollette both ran against him (it was LaFollette who really becan the revolt, in 1911; Nevins/Commager, p. 404). Where popular vote elected the delegates, Roosevelt won overwhelmingly -- but the party bosses, who chose most of the delegates, backed Taft, and he became the Republican nominee (Morison, p. 838).
Roosevelt wouldn't accept that; he accepted the ÒProgressive" nomination, although most people called him the "Bull Moose" nominee. Taft, unfairly, was "put in the position of the 'conservative' candidate" (Hofstadter, p. 133).
When the election came, Wilson won a mere 42% of the vote, with Roodevelt taking 27%, Taft 23%, and Socialist Eugene Debs 6%. Thus the two Republican candidates, who had once been close friends, garnered 50% of the total vote -- but Wilson had 435 electoral votes, to 88 for Roosevelt and 8 for Taft (DeGregorio, p. 417). It was the lowest vote total by a winning candidate since Lincoln in 1860 (when there was a four-way party split), and America would not see the like until the election of Bill Clinton.
The song refers to casting "our votes again," implying Wilson is up for re-election, and also speaks of "soldiers coming back once more," implying that World War I has started. Plus Wilson is called "President," not "candidate" or "governor." This implies that Friend's broadside is from 1916, not 1912 -- but it truly does not mention any issues of the 1916 election. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Gray180

Presidents, The (The Presidents in Rhyme)


DESCRIPTION: To the tune of "Yankee Doodle": "George Washington, first President, by Adams was succeeded, And Thomas Jefferson was next, For the people's cause he pleaded...." And so on, through as many presidents as the teacher can think up rhymes for
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political derivative
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1789-1797 - Administration of George Washington
1797-1801 - John Adams
1801-1809 - Thomas Jefferson
1809-1817 - James Madison. War of 1812. (1815: Battle of New Orleans, fought by Andrew Jackson)
1817-1825 - James Monroe
1825-1829 - John Quincy Adams
1829-1837 - Andrew Jackson (who previously won the Battle of New Orleans)
1837-1841 - Martin Van Buren
1841 - William Henry Harrison (died in office)
1841-1845 - John Tyler (filled out Harrison's term; he was a near-Democrat in Whig's clothing, and his succession led to constitutional and legislative crises)
1845-1849 - James K. Polk (began the war with Mexico and annexed Texas)
1849-1850 - Zachary Taylor (died in office)
1850-1853 - Millard Fillmore
1853-1857 - Franklin Pierce
1857-1861 - James Buchanan
1861-1865 - Abraham Lincoln (assassinated)
1865-1869 - Andrew Johnson (a Democrat who succeeded Lincoln. The partisan Republicans in congress impeached him on trivial grounds and tried to deprive him of office, failing by only one vote in the Senate)
1869-1877 - Ulysses S. Grant (the victor, more or less, at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862)
1877-1881 - Rutherford B. Hayes
1881 - James A. Garfield (assassinated)
1881-1885 - Chester A. Arthur
1885-1889 - Grover Cleveland (first term)
1889-1893 - Benjamin Harrison
1893-1897 - Grover Cleveland (second term)
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 877, "The Presidents" (1 text)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 390-391, "The Presidents" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 877)
Roud #7542
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yankee Doodle" (tune) and references there
NOTES: This song probably originated some time in the nineteenth century, and has been periodically extended. Randolph's version, for instance, extends into the second administration of Cleveland, but it has been extended at least as far as Franklin Roosevelt. - RBW
It's been further extended, by Oscar Brand (up through Eisenhower) and yours truly (through Bush [Senior]). No doubt the Clinton verse will be, er, interesting. - PJS
Given the political tendencies of most folk singers, I suspect Bush Junior will get some interesting verses of his own....
Another anonymous poem on this general theme, "Our Presidents" (which runs through Wilson) is found on p. 603 of Hazel Felleman's The Best Loved Poems of the American People. - RBW
File: R877

Press Gang (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a press gang in London who ask if he'd join the fleet. He agrees after they tell "shocking lies" to him about life on board. Once on board he is flogged. He had run away from his wife but now would be happy not to go to sea again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (ENMacCollSeeger02)
KEYWORDS: sea ship ordeal sailor pressgang lie abuse
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, PRSSGANG
Roud #662
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Press Gang" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
File: RcTPrGan

Press Gang (II), The


See Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser) [Laws N6] (File: LN06)

Press Gang Sailor, The


See Polly on the Shore (The Valiant Sailor) (File: Wa057)

Pretoria


See Marching to Pretoria (File: Hugi425)

Prettiest Little Baby In The County-O


See What'll I Do with the Baby-O (File: R565)

Prettiest Little Song of All, The


DESCRIPTION: "When the pretty little birds are singing In the evening by the pale moonlight... It speaks to me in accents free Of one that's ever far and yet so near... The sweetest song I ever heard is one of home and mother."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: home mother nonballad separation
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 848, "The Prettiest Little Song of All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7449
File: R848

Pretty Betsey [Laws M18]


DESCRIPTION: Betsey loves William; her father so despises him that he brutally abuses Betsey. With Betsey's mother's help, William is able to pay a last visit, only to have Betsey die in his arms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952
KEYWORDS: courting abuse death
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws M18, "Pretty Betsey"
BrownII 75, "Pretty Betsey" (1 text)
DT 722, PRETBETS
Roud #1911
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Andrew Lammie" [Child 233] (plot)
NOTES: This presence of this song in Laws is rather a curiosity: Laws knows only of the copy in Brown, and the notes to that book admit of no other version -- but Laws not only lists it as traditional but as being of British origin. - RBW
File: LM18

Pretty Betsy the Milkmaid (Blackberry Fold) [Laws O10]


DESCRIPTION: The squire sees Pretty Betsy, and offers to marry her. She begs him not to tease a poor girl. He gives her half of a broken ring as a token. He tries to seduce her, then rape her, but she fends him off. He gives in and marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(2146))
KEYWORDS: beauty courting seduction virtue marriage
FOUND IN: US(MW) Britain(England(All),Scotland) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws O10, "Pretty Betsy the Milkmaid (Blackberry Fold)"
Kennedy 314, "Blackberry Fold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 23, "Blackberry Fold" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 831, BESSMILK
Roud #559
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2146), "Young Squire" ("It's of a rich squire in Bristol doth dwell"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 25(2147)[some illegible lines], "The Young Squire"; Harding B 28(140), "Squire and Milk Maid"; 2806 c.16(44), Harding B 25(1836), "Squire and Milkmaid"; 2806 b.11(240), Firth c.18(168), "Squire and Milkmaid" or "Blackberry Fold"
NOTES: Not to be confused with "Blackberry Grove," despite their sharing a milkmaid and blackberries. Incidentally, one of the reasons milkmaids were held in such romantic esteem was for their smooth, fair, and un-pockmarked skin, which came from their contact with cowpox and resultant immunity to smallpox. - PJS
File: LO10

Pretty Bird


See Little Bird (File: Fus089)

Pretty Boy Floyd


DESCRIPTION: "Come gather 'round me children, a story I will tell, About Pretty Boy Floyd, the outlaw; Oklahoma knew him well." The singer tells how Floyd turned outlaw when a deputy attacked his wife, and describes Floyd's many charities
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (recording, Woody Guthrie)
KEYWORDS: outlaw police robbery help
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 227, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 296-297, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BOYFLOYD*
Roud #11504
RECORDINGS:
Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (on Struggle2)
Pete Seeger, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (on PeteSeeger19) (on PeteSeeger41)
File: LoF227

Pretty Caledonia


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

Pretty Caroline


DESCRIPTION: A sailor tells Caroline that her parents had "pressed me on board of a man-o-war from pretty Caroline." He has returned rich. She asks that he show the gold ring and lock of hair that would identify him. He does. They marry.
AUTHOR: G. Brown? (source: broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3147))
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3146))
KEYWORDS: courting marriage ring return sailor brokentoken
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 88, "Pretty Caroline" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3146), "Pretty Caroline," Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(3147), Firth b.26(129), Firth c.13(265), Harding B 11(3148), Harding B 11(3149), Firth c.12(184), "Pretty Caroline"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(050), "Pretty Caroline," unknown, n.d.
File: LeBe088

Pretty Crowing Chicken


See The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father [Child 248] (File: C248)

Pretty Fair Damsel, A


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

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


DESCRIPTION: A girl refuses to be courted by a stranger, saying she will wait for her love. The stranger counters that he may be slain, drowned, or unfaithful; she says she will be faithful anyway. He pulls out his locket, revealing him as her lost, and now rich, love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1822
KEYWORDS: courting separation brokentoken
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Bahamas
REFERENCES (39 citations):
Laws N42, "Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token)"
Belden, pp. 148-151, "A Sweetheart in the Army" (3 texts plus references to 2 more, 1 tube)
Randolph 55, "The Maiden in the Garden" (3 texts plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 97-99, "The Maiden in the Garden" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 55A)
Eddy 51, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 92, "A Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 68, "Betty Fair Miss" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 12, "Madam, I Have Gold and Silver" (1 text, starting with "Wheel of Fortune" but ending with a "Ripest of Apples" verse and ending with a Riley stanza, from this or some other ballad of this type)
Hudson 36, pp. 160-151, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (1 text); also 37, pp. 151-152, "Annie Girl" (1 text, which conflates 2 verses of "The Drowsy Sleeper" [Laws M4], 2 or 3 of "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)" or "No, John, No: or similar, and 3 verses probably of this)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 260-264, "The True Sweetheart," "Pretty Fair Maid," "A Pretty Fair Damsel," "A Lily Fair Damsel," The True Sweetheart" (5 texts, mostly rather short; 4 tunes on pp.423-425); in addition, p. 265, "A Soldier Boy," opens with stanzas from this song, but the conclusion is "William Hall (The Brisk Young Farmer)" [Laws N30]
SharpAp 98, "The Broken Token" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 134-139, "Broken Ring Song" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-NovaScotia 28, "Broken Ring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 59, "Broken Ring Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 24, "Broken Ring Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 584-589, "Seven Years I Loved a Sailor" (3 texts, 3 tunes; the "C" text, "Flowery Garden," grafts the "Poison in a Glass of Wine" theme (cf. "Oxford City" [Laws P30]) as the ending)
Fowke/MacMillan 65, "The Sailor's Return" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 63, "The Single Sailor" (2 texts)
Leach, pp. 701-703, "A Sweetheart in the Army" (2 texts)
OLochlainn 2, "A Lady Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 47, "The Lady Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBoyle, p. 34, "A Lady Fair" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 88, "The Sweetheart in the Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 77-78, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, in which, despite the title, the soldier asks the girl to marry, not the reverse)
Cambiaire, pp. 64-65, "The Soldier's Return (A Pretty Fair Maid)" (1 text)
FSCatskills 22, "Johnny Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 80-81, "Miss Mary Belle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 68-69, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 326-327, "The Brisk Young Sailor" (1 text)
Greig #23, p. 1, "The Sailor" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1038, "The Single Sailor" (26 texts plus a single verse on p. 617, 16 tunes)
GreigDuncan6 1201, "She Put Her Hand into Her Bosom" (1 fragment)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 104-105, "The Young and Single Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 117-118, "A Pretty Fair Miss All in a Garden" (1 text, 1 tune); also pp. 222-223 (1 tune, partial text)
JHCox 92, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (2 texts plus mention of 4 more; the "B" text includes stanzas from "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)")
SHenry H471, p. 317, "The Broken Ring" (1 text, 1 tune); also probably H818, pp. 317-318, "Green Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 27, "The Sailor's Return" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
DT 462, JREILLY* JREILLY3* JREILLY5
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 264-265, "The Poor and Single Sailor" (1 tune)
Roud #264
RECORDINGS:
Mary Cash, "Lady in Her Father's Garden" (on IRTravellers01)
Cousin Emmy [Cynthia May Carver], "Pretty Fair Miss Out In the Garden" (Decca 24213, 1947; on ConstSor1)
Louise Foreacre, "Down in Grandma's Garden" (on Stonemans01)
Warde & Pat Ford, "The Soldier's Sweetheart" (AFS 4204 B1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Sarah Hawkes, "Returning Sweetheart" (on Persis1)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Fair Miss in the Garden" (on Holcomb1) (on FOTM)
Maggie Murphy, "Seven Years Since I Had a Sweetheart" (on IRHardySons)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Pretty Fair Miss Out in the Garden" (on NLCR06)
Sarah Anne O'Neill, "Standing in Yon Flowery Garden" (on Voice10)
Mrs. William Towns, "A Fair Maid Walked in her Father's Garden" (on Ontario1)
Doug Wallin, "Pretty Fair Miss in a Garden" (on Wallins1)
Martin Young & Corbett Grigsby, "Pretty Fair Miss in the Garden" (on MMOKCD)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(180a), "The Loyal Sailor," J. Ferraby (Hull), 1803-1838; also Harding B 11(4354), Firth c.12(335), "Young and Single Sailor"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
cf. "The Bleacher Lassie" (tune, per GreigDuncan5)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Sailor's Return
The Single Soldier
John Riley (III)
Flowery Garden
The Sailor Boy
The Sailor's Return
Seven Years I Loved a Sailor
A Lady in Her Garden Walking
A Fair Maid
A Lady Walking
NOTES: Eddy's version of this piece may be the only one of these disguised love songs in which the man admits what he is: A creep who sneaks up on his faithful true love.
The second Sam Henry version, "Green Garden," is marked as Laws N42 but with a question mark. I understand the editors' hesitation, but there are enough links to other texts of the song that I think we can list it here. It's not as if we need another Broken Token ballad....
Paul Stamler suggested filing Art Thieme's song "That's the Ticket" here. Since this index occasionally pretends to something resembling scholarship, I couldn't bring myself to do it. But if you want to see the essence of Broken Token absurdity, that song (on Thieme03) probably sums it up as well as is humanly possible. - RBW
The last three verses of Mary Cash's version on IRTravellers01 are the "Phoenix Island" verses from "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim": as a result, the suitor is finally rejected. Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01 cite another version from Mary Delaney who "had the suitor even more fimly rejected:
For it's seven years brings an alteration,
And seven more brings a big change to me,
Oh, go home young man,
choose another sweetheart,
Your serving maid I'm not here to be."
Mary Delaney's "Phoenix Island" on IRTravellers01 is even more extreme (see notes to "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim," which generally ends unfavorably for the suitor). - BS
GreigDuncan6 seems a poorly remembered fragment of the Laws N42 broken ring verse with sexes reversed: "She put her hand into her bosom With fingers neat and small And pulled out the gay gold ring I gave her at the ball" instead of "He put his hand into his pocket, His fingers they being long and small, Pulled out the ring that was broke between them; And when she saw it she down did fall." If there had been another verse there might have been a reason to assign it somewhere else. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LN42

Pretty Fair Miss All in a Garden, A


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

Pretty Fair Widow, The (Lillie Shaw II)


DESCRIPTION: Pretty widow Lillie Shaw goes out one day but does not return. A search party fails to find her, but finally traces of blood are found, and then her body. "They searched the Preston house" and find her clothes; E.B. Preston is tried and hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: murder trial execution
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 115, "The Pretty Fair Widow (or, Lillie Shaw)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa115 (Partial)
Roud #4628
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lillie Shaw" (subject)
NOTES: Although there are two songs on this subject, and this one at least spread enough to be collected three times, no one seems to have found details on the fates of Lillie Shaw and Jim Wilcox/E. B. Preston.
Frank Proffit, who supplied the Warner ballad, claimed the murder took place in the 1880s in Mountain City, Tennessee. - RBW
File: Wa115

Pretty Four-Leaf Shamrock from Glenore, The


See The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)

Pretty Four-Leaved Shamrock from Glenore, The


See The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)

Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow, The


DESCRIPTION: "O 'twas on a bright mornin' in summer When I first heard her voice singin' low As he said to a colleen beside him, 'Who's the pretty girl milkin' the cow?'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.26(457))
KEYWORDS: love work
FOUND IN: US(MW) Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
O'Conor, pp. 58-59, "The Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow" (1 text)
OLochlainn 57, "Cailin Deas Cruite Na MBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 14, "Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 13, "Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 40, "Who's the Pretty Girl Milkin' the Cow?" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3139
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Cailin Deas Cruite Na mBo" (on IRClare01)
J. W. Myers, "Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" (Berliner 1772, late 1890s)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(457), "The Pretty Maid Milking her Cow," G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Harding B 25(1563), Firth c.18(163), Harding B 11(2386), Harding B 11(2846), "[The] Pretty Maid Milking her Cow"; 2806 b.11(99), "Colleen Dhas Crutha Na Mho" ("It was on a fine summer's morning"), W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 c.15(127), Harding B 19(79), "Colleen Dhas Crutha Na Mho"
Murray, Mu23-y1:029, "Colleen Dhas Crutha na Mho," James Lindsay Jr (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Peistie Glen" (tune)
cf. "Cailin Deas" (tune)
NOTES: O'Conor seems more complete than Sandburg. He hears her singing and professes to be "your captive slave for the future." She is not taken in by his profession, nor by his claim that "The Indies afford no such jewel" or that he would trade "the wealth of great Omar... Devonshire's treasure ... the lamp of Aladdin" to "live poor on a mountain With colleen dhas cruthin amoe." He warns "a young maid is like a ship sailing, She don't know how long she may steer" and he asks her to marry.
Samuel Lover in Rory O'More (1836) quotes this fragment: "I saw a young damsel--'twas Noreen; Her ringlets did carelessly flow Oh: how I adore you, ma voureen Ma Colleen dhas crutheen na mbho." - BS
File: San040

Pretty Jessie of the Railway Bar


See Jessie, the Belle at the Bar (File: R051)

Pretty Little Bird


See Free Little Bird (File: FSWB391A)

Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susam


See Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn) (File: R568)

Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susie


See Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn) (File: R568)

Pretty Little Dear


DESCRIPTION: The singer decides it's time to wed. He meets a girl in London who has him spend a fortune for food and drink. He is beaten and sentenced to prison when a man says his girl is a thief. Now out of jail, he warns others against pretty ladies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads fol. 119)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer decides it's time to wed. He visits the Quadrant in London where he falls for a girl. They kiss and they go for a walk. She says she's hungry and wolfs a huge meal, and thirsty and drinks herself drunk. They meet a man who beats him because he is pals with the girl who had stolen his watch and ring. He complains to the magistrate who sentences him and the girl to six months hard labor. Now he is out of prison and says "I'll court a lass that's homely." He warns others against pretty ladies.
KEYWORDS: courting warning prison theft drink food humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1328, "Pretty Little Dear" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7146
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 119, "A Pretty Little Dear" ("One morning very early a strange thought came in my head"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(3155), Firth b.34(241), Harding B 25(63), "[A][The] Pretty Little Dear"; Firth b.25(333), "My Pretty Little Dear"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh Cruel" (tune, per broadside Bodleian Johnson Ballads fol. 119)
cf. "The Black Velvet Band (I)" (theme: man imprisoned, woman thief)
cf. "The Half Crown Song" (theme: the date that eats and drinks unbelievable quantities)
cf. "Bill Morgan and His Gal" (theme: the date that eats and drinks unbelievable quantities)
NOTES: GreigDuncan7 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Johnson Ballads fol. 119 is the basis for the description.
"The Half Crown Song" cross-reference is a Flanagan Brothers song not indexed yet. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71328

Pretty Little Duck, The


DESCRIPTION: Quack quack cried the pretty little duck Chick chick cried the swan oh But the old crock crows, -- Everybody noos That we'll all get a egg in the morning"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonballad bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1667, "The Pretty Little Duck" (1 text)
Roud #13041
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Woods o' Airlie" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
File: Grd81667

Pretty Little Miss [Laws P18]


DESCRIPTION: The singer courts a young girl, eventually talking his way into her bed. In the middle of the night he prepares to leave. She reminds him of his promise to marry her. He tells her that sleeping with him was her choice. She bewails her fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1818 (Garret, _Right Choyse and Merrie Book of Garlands I_)
KEYWORDS: seduction separation betrayal pregnancy
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws P18, "Pretty Little Miss"
MacSeegTrav 67, "Too Young" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 107, "Good Morning, My Pretty Little Miss" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 49, "Good-Morning My Pretty Little Miss" (1 text, 1 tune -- an abridged composite version)
Cambiaire, pp. 57-58, "A Gentleman's Meeting (Down by Yon Riverside" (1 text, which starts out as "Pretty Little Miss" [Laws P18] but ends with 'The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo)" [Laws O3]; Roud lists it as a version of Laws P18, but it appears that the larger part of the text is O3 -- though the material in the middle could be from either)
DT 500, PRETMISS
Roud #564
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosemary Lane" [Laws K43] (floating lyrics)
cf. "Seven Years O'er Young" (plot)
NOTES: I place [the MacColl/Seeger song "Too Young"] with "Pretty Little Miss" (Laws P18) because MacColl & Seeger do, explicitly citing Laws. But it has few of the plot elements of the canonical Laws version, and tacks on a couple of stanzas that I'd swear came from "Blackwaterside." - PJS
Laws himself says the song has "much textual instability," even though he quotes only four versions -- two from Sharp and two fragments from JFSS. And his sample stanzas do look a bit like "Blackwaterside."
For additional notes on the problems with this piece, see the notes to "Seven Years O'er Young." - RBW
File: LP18

Pretty Mauhee, The


See The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)

Pretty Milkmaid, The


See Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)

Pretty Mohea, The


See The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)

Pretty Mohee, The


See The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)

Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold)


DESCRIPTION: The singer writes to tell his love of the hardships endured by sailors. He describes a horrible storm he recently endured; "a sailor must yield to whatever may come." He assures Nancy he is remembering her as best he can
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: storm sea love separation floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US(SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 78, "Pretty Nancy of London" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 568-570, "Nancy from London" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 53, "Nancy of London" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 130, "Sweet William and Nancy" (1 text, mixed with "Green Grows the Laurel" and other material)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 33, "Nancy from London" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 49, "Lovely Nancy from England" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #407
RECORDINGS:
Cyril Poacher, "Nancy of Yarmouth" (on Voice12)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Gentlemen of England (I)" [Laws K2]
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Tall Grow the Rushes
NOTES: Leach-Labrador 49: "This song should not be confused with 'Nancy of Yarmouth' or 'Jimmy and Nancy,' and so forth. Although it borrows heavily from other songs, it is a distinct and separate piece."
The "green grow the laurels" verse is
Green grow the laurels and the tops of them small,
For love is a flower that hangs o'er us all,
For the green leaves will wither and the roots will decay,
But the red rose will flourish when my love comes from sea
The "ship in distress" theme is from "Nancy of Yarmouth". The "Green grow the laurels" verse has only those four words in common with Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs) - BS
Classifying versions of this song is indeed very difficult; Roud in fact includes a number of versions titled "Nancy of Yarmouth." The title also adheres frequently to "William and Nancy (II) (Courting Too Slow)" [Laws P5]. There are some fragments beyond classification. This is the best we can do. - RBW
File: R078

Pretty Pear Tree, The


See The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)

Pretty Peggy (II)


See My Generous Lover (File: RcMGL)

Pretty Peggy of Derby


See Bonnie Lass of Fyvie, The (Pretty Peggy-O) (File: SBoA020)

Pretty Peggy-O


See Bonnie Lass of Fyvie, The (Pretty Peggy-O) (File: SBoA020)

Pretty Ploughboy, The


See The Jolly Plowboy (Little Plowing Boy; The Simple Plowboy) [Laws M24] (File: LM24)

Pretty Plowboy, The


See The Lark in the Morning (File: ShH62)

Pretty Polly (I) (Moll Boy's Courtship) [Laws O14]


DESCRIPTION: A married man comes courting Polly. While she is attracted, she cannot wed a married man. He offers to kill his wife; she begs him not to, promising to wait seven years for him. His wife conveniently dies just before the deadline; the two are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1861 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage death floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE) Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws O14, "Pretty Polly (Moll Boy's Courtship)"
GreigDuncan2 226, "Charming Mall Boy" (1 text)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 10-11, "Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 56, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, with one floating verse from "The Cuckoo" and two from "On Top of Old Smokey")
Gardner/Chickering 68, "The Charming Moll Boy" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 348-349, "Moll Boy's Courtship" (1 text)
DT 594, PRETPOL
ST LO14 (Full)
Roud #195
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Noble Lord Hawkins
NOTES: According to Stokoe (slightly amplifying Bell), "the Sir Arthur named is no less a personage than Sir Arthur Haslerigg, the Governor of Tynemouth Castle during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell." Bell seems to be the only source for this assertion.
"Kittredge discusses the use of the cuckoo stanza (number 8 [in the Eddy text]) in Journal 30, PP7 350-j52, i 'Ballads and Songs'" (note from the Digital Tradition). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LO14

Pretty Polly (II) [cf. Laws P36]


DESCRIPTION: Willie urges Polly to go riding with him "some pleasure [to] see" before they get married. Although she is "afraid of [his] ways," she comes, only to find her new-dug grave awaiting her. Willie kills and buries her and heads home (or out to sea)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Wyman-Brockway I)
KEYWORDS: murder burial betrayal
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So) Canada
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Randolph 153, "Pretty Polly" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
BrownII 64, "The Gosport Tragedy" (3 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more; Laws lists the "A" text as P36A, and the rest as P36B, but "D" and probably "C" are "Pretty Polly")
Brewster 64, "Pretty Polly" (1 text plus a fragment)
Leach, pp. 698-700, "The Gosport Tragedy" (2 texts, but only the second goes with this piece; the first is, obviously, "The Gosport Tragedy")
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 79, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 110, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 69-70, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 140-141, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 89, "Come, Pretty Polly" (3 texts, 1 tune)
JHCoxIIA, #17A-C, pp. 73-78, "Pretty Polly," "Come, Polly, Pretty Polly" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 2 tunes; the "A" text is the full "Cruel Ship's Carpenter" version; "B" is the short "Pretty Polly (II)"; the "C" fragment is too short to tell but has lyrics more typical of the latter)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 53-54, "" (1 text, very short even by the standards of this worn-down song)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 128-134, collectively titled "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" but with individual titles "Pretty Polly," "Dying Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Oh, Polly!" (6 texts; 5 tunes on pp. 395-398; of these only the "C" text has a ghost; in "D" and "E" there is no ghost but Willie's ship sinks; these presumably should file with Laws P36, while "A," B," and "F" go here)
Lomax-FSUSA 84, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 143-144, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 227, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
DT 311, PRETPOL2*
Roud #15
RECORDINGS:
Estil C. Ball, "Pretty Polly" (on LomaxCD1701, LomaxCD1705); "Pretty Polly" (AFS, 1941; on LCTreas)
Frank Bode, "Pretty Polly" (on FBode1)
Dock Boggs, "Pretty Polly" (Brunswick 132A, 1927); (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Coon Creek Girls, "Pretty Polly" (Vocalion 04659, 1939; Perfect 16102, 1935?)
Bill Cornett ,"Pretty Polly" (on MMOKCD)
Cranford & Thompson, "Pretty Polly" (Melotone 45092, 1935)
John Hammond, "Purty Polly" (Challenge 168, 1927)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Pretty Polly" (Brunswick 116, 1927)
Ivor Melton & band, "Pretty Polly" (on Persis1)
Pleaz Mobley, "Pretty Polly" (on JThomas01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Pretty Polly" (on NLCR13)
Jean Ritchie, "Pretty Polly" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
Sauceman Brothers, "Pretty Polly" (Rich-R-Tone 457, n.d.)
Pete Seeger, "Pretty Polly" (on PeteSeeger16)
Lee Sexton, "Pretty Polly" (on MMOKCD)
B. F. Shelton "Pretty Polly" (Victor 35838, 1927; on BefBlues1)
Stanley Brothers, "Pretty Polly" (Columbia 20770, 1951)
Pete Steele, "Pretty Polly" (AFS 1587/1702, 1938; on PSteele01, KMM)
Turner & Parkins, "Pretty Polly" (Superior 2635, 1931)
Jack Wallin, "Pretty Polly" (on Wallins1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. esp. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly)" [Laws P36A/B], from which this ballad is descended at a great distance
cf. "Fair Eleanor (II)" (plot)
cf. "Pastures of Plenty" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Pastures of Plenty (File: Grnw293)
NOTES: This much-shortened form of "The Gosport Tragedy" has now taken on a life of its own. Although no clear line between the two can be drawn, I tend to call the piece "The Gosport Tragedy" if it includes the ghost and "Pretty Polly" if it omits.
One of Cox's texts (the C text, which also has a tune) was called by the informant "Young Beeham." There is no basis for this in the text of the song. One has to think this the result of some sort of confusion with "Young Beacham." - RBW
Many if not most American versions are probably traceable back to B. F. Shelton's recording, which was enormously (and deservedly) popular.
According to J. M. Jarrell of Wayne Co., WV, cited by J. B. Cox in "Traditional Ballads Mainly From West Virginia," in the early 19th century one Polly Aldridge was murdered by William Chapman, who was convicted and executed in Martin Co., KY, and this ballad was being sung about the killing c. 1850. - PJS
File: LP36B

Pretty Polly (III)


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

Pretty Polly (IV)


DESCRIPTION: Polly will not marry the singer; his poverty would grieve her parents. He replies, "Some say I am rakey... But I'll prove... that I'm guilty of nothing but innocent love." He sets out for New Orleans to marry another, but decides he loves Polly too much
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: love courting separation virtue rambling return
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 133, p. 144, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Roud #4296
NOTES: Although this piece consists largely of floating verses, the combined effect is unique and deserves to be considered a separate song. - RBW
File: CW133

Pretty Polly (IX)


See If I Were a Fisher (File: HHH709)

Pretty Polly (V)


See Creeping and Crawling (File: RL033)

Pretty Polly (VI)


See Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly) [Laws N14] (File: LN14)

Pretty Polly (VII)


See The Irish Girl (File: HHH711)

Pretty Polly (VIII)


See The Female Warrior (Pretty Polly) [Laws N4] (File: LN04)

Pretty Polly Anne


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

Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green


See Polly Perkins of Paddington Green (File: HHH132)

Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, I'm Going Away


See On Top of Old Smokey (File: BSoF740)

Pretty Sairey


See Pretty Saro (File: R744)

Pretty Sally


See A Rich Irish Lady (The Fair Damsel from London; Sally and Billy; The Sailor from Dover; Pretty Sally; etc.) [Laws P9]; also "The Brown Girl" [Child 295] (File: LP09)

Pretty Sally of London


See A Rich Irish Lady (The Fair Damsel from London; Sally and Billy; The Sailor from Dover; Pretty Sally; etc.) [Laws P9]; also "The Brown Girl" [Child 295] (File: LP09)

Pretty Saro


DESCRIPTION: The singer loves Pretty Saro, but she shows no interest in him: "She wants a freeholder and I have no land." Nor can he write her a letter "in a fine hand" as he would wish to. In despair he vows to "wander by the river" (or kill himself?)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Lomax, North Carolina Booklet)
KEYWORDS: love poverty river
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Randolph 744, "Pretty Saro" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune); cf. 745, "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" (2 texts, 2 tune) and the Hudson text cited below
BrownIII 252, "Pretty Saro" (2 texts)
Hudson 48, pp. 164-165, "Pretty Saro" (1 text, beginning with stanzas from "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" and ending with "Pretty Saro," plus mention of 1 more text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 327-328, "Pretty Saro" (2 texts, with local titles "Pretty Saro," "Pretty Sarah"; 2 tunes on p. 443)
Brewster 99, "Pretty Sairey" (1 text)
SharpAp 76, "Pretty Saro" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 39, "Pretty Saro" (1 text, 1 tune, with one stanza omitted)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 68, "Pretty Saro" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 115, "Lone Valley" (1 text)
Chase, pp. 152-153, "At the Foot of Yonder Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 148, "Pretty Saro" (1 text)
DT, PRETSARO* YONDRMTN
Roud #417
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "At the Foot of Yonder's Mountain" (on Barker01)
Glen Neaves, "1809" (on Persis1)
Ritchie Family, "Pretty Saro" (on Ritchie03)
Jean Ritchie, "Pretty Saro" (on RitchieWatsonCD1)
Pete Seeger, "Pretty Saro" (on PeteSeeger40)
Cas Wallin, "Pretty Saro" (on OldLove)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" (floating lyrics, tune)
cf. "If I Were a Fisher" (floating verses)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Pretty Sarah
NOTES: This piece seems to break up into two families, "Pretty Saro" (which appears to be more popular) and "At the Foot of Yonder Mountain." In the latter, the woman is "Mary," not "Saro." Broadwood and Gilchrist argued that all this is based on an ancient hymn to the Virgin Mary. If so, that would argue that the "Yonder Mountain" form is older. But we all know how active some folklorists' imaginations are. - RBW
File: R744

Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare [Laws P6]


DESCRIPTION: A sailor tries to win Susie's love; she rejects him because he is poor. Instead she gives her love to a rich man. The sailor goes back to sea but never finds another woman as beautiful as Susie
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes); before 1844 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3331))
KEYWORDS: courting poverty beauty
FOUND IN: US(SE) Britain(England(South)) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws P6, "Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare"
BrownII 132, "Pretty Susie, The Pride of Kildare" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 131-133, "The Pride of Kildare" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 83, "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 48, "Pretty Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 88, "Pretty Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "Little Susin, the Pride of Kildore" (source notes only)
DT 724, PRETSUSI
Roud #962
RECORDINGS:
Angelo Dornan, "Pretty Susan" (on Miramichi1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3331), "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare," J. Howe (Hull), 1835-1843; also Harding B 17(246b), Harding B 11(3169), Harding B 11(3168), Firth c.18(89), Harding B 11(3167), 2806 c.16(68), Firth b.26(293), Johnson Ballads 3196, Firth c.16(437), Harding B 11(1717), Firth b.27(339), Firth b.25(496), Harding B 11(1110), Firth c.16(437), "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare"
Murray, Mu23-y1:118, "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare," unknown, 19C
File: LP06

Pretty Susie, the Pride of Kildare


See Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare [Laws P6] (File: LP06)

Pretty Sylvia


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

Pretty Three-Leaved Shamrock from Glenore, The


See The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)

Pretty Wench


See I Am a Pretty Wench (File: BGMG082)

Prickilie Bush, The


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

Prickle-Holly Bush


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

Prickly Bush, The


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

Pride of Glencoe, The


See MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe) [Laws N39] (File: LN39)

Pride of Glenelly, The


DESCRIPTION: In flowery verse and classical allusions, the singer praises the beauty of Glenelly and the woman who lives there. He describes her appearance. He claims that all the ancient beauties made their reputations with jewelry; the woman of Glenelly is real
AUTHOR: James Devine
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H607, pp. 249-250, "The Pride of Glenelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13339
NOTES: Hard to believe that anyone voluntarily sing this thing. The words are incredibly ornate, and it's littered with classical allusions. And it doesn't even *say* anything. But Sam Henry reportedly got it from a source other than the author. - RBW
File: HHH607

Pride of Kildare, The


See Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare [Laws P6] (File: LP06)

Pride of Kilkee, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a maid going to Kilkee. He offers her a seat and asks her home. She rejects him as a seducer. He claims to be honorable. She agrees only to marry him. "Oh, her name I won't mention at all But I'll style her the Pride of Kilkee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1974 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 32, "The Pride of Kilkee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5217
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Kilkee Maid" (on IRTLenihan01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)" (tune, according Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
cf. "Seek Not from Whence Love She Came" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
cf. "The Lisburn Lass" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
cf. "Tons of Bright Gold" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
NOTES: In spite of the line "Who would blame me to make her my own" it is not clear, at the end, that they marry.
Kilkee is in County Clare, Ireland.
For other examples of hidden names see "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)" and "Drihaureen O Mo Chree (Little Brother of My Heart)" and its notes. Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "Obviously, the writer of Tom's song ["the Pride of Kilkee"] was familiar with the English version of 'Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi.' Writing more than two decades after hearing these songs for the first time, I have not re-encountered them in oral tradition since, and know of no printed sources for either of them." But, in the notes to "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi," Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "The Clare Gaelic scholar Eugene O'Curry stated that this song was written originally about 1810 .... The song in English which Tom sings has been about for a good many years likewise, as is witnessed by the similar version which Freeman noted down in London in 1915...." - BS
File: RcPriKil

Pride of Logy Bay, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer is in love. His love's father comes to him and threatens to send his daughter away if the two continue to see each other. Her father arranges for her exile, but -- after many years of seeking -- the two find each other and are married.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: love exile separation reunion father
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
FSCatskills 61, "The Pride of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 47, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 134, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 25, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 59-60, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 110, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, STARLOGY*
Roud #4421
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Star of Logy Bay" (on NFOBlondahl01,NFOBlondahl05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid of Sweet Gurteen" (lyrics)
cf. "I Am a Newfoundlander" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
I Am a Newfoundlander (File: RySm089)
NOTES: Logy Bay is in Newfoundland, a short way north of Saint John's - RBW
According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site the author is "unknown, but probably Mark Walker." - BS
File: FSC061

Pride of Newry Town, The


DESCRIPTION: Orphans William and Mary promise to wed, but poverty forces William to sea. He is long away, and Mary (thinking him dead) weds another. He returns; Mary drops dead when he arrives. Old and new suitors do battle; William kills his rival and returns to sea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: love separation sailor reunion husband death fight betrayal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H190, pp. 420-421, "Killeavy's Pride"; H798, pp. 421-422, "The Pride of Newry Town" (2 text, 2 tunes)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 103-106, "Killeevy's Pride" (1 text)
Roud #4390
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Susan Carr" (plot)
NOTES: In "Killeevy's Pride" (Henry and Hayward-Ulster) Mary ends as "a victim to false love in the Asylum of Belfast." - BS
File: HHH190

Pride of Pimlico, The


DESCRIPTION: Kitty Quinn comes to town "And made of every other lass about the place a foe Because she took their sweethearts." The men can't work, the drinkers give up drink, and the teetotalers take up alcohol. Soon there'll be 10000 victims of the Pride of Pimlico.
AUTHOR: Arthur Griffith
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: love humorous drink
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More, pp. 265-266, "The Pride of Pimlico" (1 text)
File: OLcM265

Pride of the Prairie


DESCRIPTION: "On the wild and woolly prairie, Not far from old Pueblo town, Lived a little girl named Mary, Eyes of blue and tresses of brown." A cowboy comes up and asks her to marry him. They agree, and ride off stealing kisses
AUTHOR: Words: Henry J. Breen/Music: George Botsford
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: cowboy love marriage
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 25, "Pride of the Prairie" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Ohr025

Pride of the Shamrock Shore, The


See Mary, the Pride of the Shamrock Shore (File: Pea630)

Priest and the Nuns, The


DESCRIPTION: Pumping Shanty. A priest goes to France and finds seven nuns lying sick in the convent yard. He claims to be a doctor with a cane/stick that will cure them. He treats all the nuns and says he'll call again. choruses of "Ho, ho ho" and "Hal-ler-al-le-re."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: shanty bawdy clergy trick
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 166-167, "The Priest and the Nuns" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9146
NOTES: The pattern of text and choruses is reminiscent of "Able Brown the Sailor" even though the words are completely different and for a shanty, rather tame. Harlow gives no notes or history on this, though it would be easy to imagine much coarser versions. - SL
File: Harl166

Prince Boys, The


See The Bold Princess Royal [Laws K29] (File: LK29)

Prince Charles He Is King James's Son


See The White Cockade (File: R120)

Prince Charlie (I)


See So Dear Is My Charlie to Me (Prince Charlie) (File: HHH533)

Prince Charlie (II)


See The Bonnie House o Airlie [Child 199] (File: C199)

Prince Edward Island Murder


DESCRIPTION: William Millman was "his mother's hope and joy" He "led [Mary Tuplin] astray," then murders her and sinks her body in the river with a heavy stone. The body is discovered and Millman executed on the gallows.
AUTHOR: Mrs. C. A. Barren?
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: seduction execution murder mother punishment
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jun 28, 1887 - Murder of Mary Tuplin by William Millman
1888 - Execution of Millman
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS140 (Partial)
Roud #1837
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Millman Song" (subject)
cf. "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" (subject)
cf. "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (subject)
NOTES: This song is item dF59 in Laws's Appendix II.
Roud has at least five different numbers for this event:
Roud #1837: Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" [Laws dF59]
Roud #4129: Doerflinger, pp. 285-286, "The Millman Song" (also Ives-DullCare, pp. 180-181, "The Millman Murder Trial") [LawsdF60]
Roud #9179: Ives-DullCare, pp. 46-47, "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (also Manny/Wilson 50, "Young Millman")
Roud #9552: Shea, pp. 174-179, "The Millman Tragedy"
Roud #12463: Dibblee/Dibblee pp. 72-73, "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" - BS
File: CrNS140

Prince Edward Isle, Adieu


See The History of Prince Edward Island (File: Doe256)

Prince Heathen [Child 104]


DESCRIPTION: Prince Heathen takes a girl against her will. He rapes her and offers her extreme cruelty, all to break her will. She never yields. At last her babe is born. After further abuse, bringing her close to death, her spirit fails; at last he acts human
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1850 (Motherwell)
KEYWORDS: rape abuse pregnancy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Child 104, "Prince Heathen" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan7 1497, "Prince Heathen" (1 text)
DT 104, PRINHEAT
Roud #3336
File: C104

Prince of Morocco, The (The Sailor Boy II) [Laws N18]


DESCRIPTION: A rich lady is in love with a sailor. Her father promises his daughter 12,000 pounds if she will leave her sailor. The sailor disguises himself as the Prince of Morocco to fool her father. They are married. The girl collects. The sailor reveals himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love disguise trick marriage
FOUND IN: US(NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws N18, "The Prince of Morocco (The Sailor Boy II)"
Randolph 88, "The Sailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 61, "The Young Prince of Spain" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 63, "The Prince of Morocco; or, Johnnie" (1 text)
DT 449, PMOROCCO
Roud #554
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(64a), "The Sailor Boy," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890?
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kitchie-Boy" [Child 252] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Poor Sailor Boy
File: LN18

Prince Robert [Child 87]


DESCRIPTION: Prince Robert asks his mother's blessing on his marriage; instead she poisons him. He sends for his wife. Arriving after the burial, she desires only a ring, but the mother will give nothing. She dies. From the graves grow a birch and brier which entwine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1802 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: marriage poison murder burial ring flowers stepmother
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 87, "Prince Robert" (4 texts)
Bronson 87, comments only
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 453-454, "Prince Robert" (notes only)
OBB 58, "Prince Robert" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 26, pp. 121-123, "Prince Robert" (1 text)
Roud #55
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Harry Saunders
File: C087

Prince William and Lady Margaret


See Fair Margaret and Sweet William [Child 74] (File: C074)

Princess Royal, The


See The Bold Princess Royal [Laws K29] (File: LK29)

Prison of Newfoundland


DESCRIPTION: "... listen to my sad tale, While I relate the hardship attending St. John's jail." Doyle lands at "Harvey's Wharf a cargo for to land." A witness lies; Doyle is sentenced to six months. From a cell he watches "the lads and lassies" and dreams of Ireland
AUTHOR: Johnny Doyle?
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: homesickness prison trial shore sailor prisoner Ireland
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doyle3, pp. 48-49, "Prison of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 90, "The Prison of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 46-47, "The Prison of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PRSONEWF*
Roud #4409
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Prison of Newfoundland" (on NFOBlondahl02)
NOTES: Blondahl: "Mention of the Black Ball Line ... would seem to date the song in the vicinity of the late 1880's." - BS
File: Doyl3048

Prisoner at the Bar, The (The Judge and Jury)


DESCRIPTION: "The judge was there, the jury too, And people from afar, A fair young lad of tender youth Was a prisoner at the bar." The young man's sweetheart argues the case; she simply asks judge and jury to remember their youthful love. The prisoner is freed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Peg Moreland)
KEYWORDS: love judge trial reprieve freedom crime
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 828, "The Prisoner at the Bar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3543
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Prisoner at the Bar" (Supertone 9639, 1930)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "The Prisoner At the Bar" (Conqueror 8594, 1935; Melotone 6-03-59, 1936; Vocalion 05487, 1940)
Peg Moreland, "The Prisoner at the Bar" (Victor 21548, 1928)
Doc Williams' Border Riders, "Prisoner at the Bar" (Wheeling DW-1016, n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Geordie" [Child 209] (plot)
NOTES: Barry and Henry thought this might be a derivative of "Geordie" (Child 209). To call this a stretch is to be generous. - RBW
File: R828

Prisoner for Life (II), A


See Irish Mail Robber, The [Laws L15] (File: LL15)

Prisoner for Life, A (I - Farewell to Green Fields and Meadows)


DESCRIPTION: "Farewell (to) green fields and (green) meadows, adieu; Your rocks and your mountains I now part from you." The singer, condemned to (life in) prison, laments all the various things -- nature, friends, whatever springs to mind -- he will be separated from
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (J. Lomax - Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: prison separation lament
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 164, "A Prisoner for Life" (4 texts, 3 tunes, of which the "B," and "D" texts and the "C" excerpt go with this piece; the "A" text is "The Irish Mail Robber" [Laws L15])
DT, PRSNRLIF* PRSNRLF2*
Roud #4312
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "A Prisoner for Life" (Victor V-40068, 1929)
Betty Laferty, "Farewell to Sweet Beaver" (on Crisp01)
NOTES: Ozark folklore credits this to one William Alexander, who on January 21, 1890 was convicted of murder by Isaac Parker (known as the "Hanging Judge"). Originally sentenced to death, this was reduced to life imprisonment, and the story is that Alexander was eventually freed when the dead man turned up alive!
Several scholars have pronounced this story true, or at least possible, but Laws, and others, suspect this piece to be of Irish origin. - RBW
File: R164

Prisoner's Hope, The


See Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (File: RJ19214)

Prisoner's Song (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer laments his time in prison, and thinks of all that he would do if free. He recalls his crime. He misses his family and his sweetheart. He describes his hopes for freedom in complex metaphors: a ship on the sea, an eagle's wings, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: prison lament love family
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,So) Ireland Canada
REFERENCES (8 citations):
FSCatskills 100, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 746, "Meet Me Tonight" (4 texts, 1 tune, with the "C" text being probably this piece although the other three appear to go with "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight")
BrownIII 350, "The Prisoner's Song" (7 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 excerpts, and mention of 1 more; "A"-"C," plus probably the "D" excerpt, are "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; "E" and "G," plus perhaps the "H" fragment, are "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "J" and "K" are "Sweet Lulur"); also probably 351, "Seven Long Years" (1 text, certainly mixed but containing elements characteristic of this song)
JHCoxIIB, #27, pp. 193-194, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune, collected in 1925 and almost certainly Dalhart-influenced)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 346-351, "New Jail/Prisoner's Song/Here's Adieu to all Judges and Juries" (1, not collected by Scarborough, of "Judges and Juries," plus 6 texts from her collections: "New Jail," "I'm Going To My New Jail Tomorrow," "New Jail," "Meet Me in the Moonlight," "The Great Ship," "Prisoner's Song"; 3 tunes on pp.449-450; the "A" fragment is probably "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "B" and "D" are "New Jail" types; "C" is too short to classify; "E" is a mix of floating verse, "If I had a great ship on the ocean," "Let her go, let her go and God bless her," "Sometimes I'll live in the white house, sometimes I live in town..."; "F" may well have some Dalhart influence)
Fuson, p. 143, "Meet Me in the Moonlight" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 218-219, "Seven Long Years in State Prison" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H746, p. 62, "Gaol Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC100 (Partial)
Roud #11730
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Prisoner's Song" (on Ashley01)
Wilf Carter, "The Prisoner's Song" (Bluebird [Canadian] 55-3202, 1943)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Prisoner's Song" (Victor 19427-B, 1924) (Columbia 257-D, 1924) (Perfect 12164, 1924) (Edison 51459 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], 1925; rec. 1924) (Brunswick 2900, 1925) (OKeh 40328 [as Tobe Little], 1925) (Bell 340, 1925) (Regal 9795, 1925) (Cameo 703 [708?], 1925; Perfect 12644/Supertone S-2000, 1930) (Apex [Can.] 8428, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 4954, n.d. [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.]) (Ajax [Can.] 17115, 1925 - probably a reissue of another recording, but it's not clear which)
Kaplan's Melodists w. Vernon Dalhart, voc. "The Prisoner's Song" (Edison 51666, 1925)
Buell Kazee [untitled fragment, under "On Top of Old Smokey"] (on Kazee01)
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, "The Prisoner's Song" (Decca 46314, 1951)
Ezra Paulette & his Beverly Hillbillies, "The Prisoner's Song" (Vocalion 03263, 1936)
George Reneau "The Prisoner's Song" (Vocalion 5056/Vocalion 14991/Silvertone 3045 [as George Hobson], 1925)
Arthur Smith, "Kilby Jail" (on McGeeSmith1)
The Texas Drifter, "The Prisoner's Song" (Panachord [U.K.] 25250, 1932)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (tune)
cf. "Botany Bay"
cf. "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"
cf. "New Prisoner's Song"
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (II)"
cf. "Sweet Lulur" (floating verses)
NOTES: Disentangling the sources and versions of this song is almost impossible. Cazden et al believe that it was formed by the collation of two songs, one belonging to the "Botany Bay/Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries" family and another being a variant of "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight/I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me." Various floating verses added to the mix, and a portion of "The Red River Valley" supplied the tune. (Others say the tune is "The Ship That Never Returned." Another part of the family, the "Seven Long Years in State Prison/I'm Going to the New Jail Tomorrow" group, uses a slightly regularized form of "My Bonnie.")
Such an elaborate reconstruction can hardly be proved, but there is no doubt that this song has complex roots. The relationships between the texts can hardly be proved; I just hope we locate all of them!
Plus, of course, almost any version collected after 1924 may have been influenced by the Vernon Dalhart recording, which was certainly the first million-selling country side (exact numbers are uncertain, but sheet music sales exceeded one million, and at least two million discs were sold; some estimates put the total at 25 million or more!). The Carter Family also had "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight" version, which adds to the complications.
The Dalhart version was copyrighted in 1924 by Dalhart in the name of Guy Massey, a cousin of the singer. At one point, Dalhart claimed Massey wrote the words and he himself the tune. On other occasions, Dalhart claimed the whole song. He also said at one point that it was public domain. Dalhart managed to collect author's royalties, though -- and gave very little to Massey.
It is fascinating to observe that the 1925 sheet music makes no mention of Dalhart at all. The cover page reads "The Prisoner's Song -- Ballad -- -- WIth Violin Obigato. Words and Music by Guy Massey." It was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. It contains two arrangements of the song, a version for male quartette arranged by Jack Glogau and an uncredited piano arrangement. Contrary to the front cover, there is no part marked for the violin (although "a violin solo is suggested between the third and fourth stanzas"). There is a piano lead-in, which looks to me as if it may have been suggested by Adelyne Hood's and Carson Robison's fiddle-and-guitar performance -- at least, the bass line looks a lot like a guy strumming chords. The lyrics are identical to Dalhart's, The back cover features a sample of "The Convict and the Rose" by Betty Chapin (which *does* have a violin obligato). It looks as if it was rushed out once Dalhart had his hit, even though his name is not to be found on it.
The above (except for the description of the sheet music) is mostly from Walter Darrell Haden, in his biography of Dalhart in Malone & McCulloh, Stars of Country Music. But he also offers a more complicated tale:
When Dalhart planned to record "The Wreck of Old 97" for Victor (he had already recorded it for Edison, and it was his biggest success to that time), they needed a flip side. To that point, Dalhart had been doing mostly operatic pieces, and didn't have much of a country repertoire. He showed the studio's music director a few lines written out (but not necessarily composed) by Massey. The Victor official, Nathaniel Shilkret, padded out the text and added a tune.
Whatever the details of authorship (and I agree with Haden that this is a slightly-patched-up folksong), it launched Dalhart on a career in which he sold an estimated 50 million discs, cut some 3000 sides totalling about 1000 different songs, and recorded under dozens if not hundreds of names - RBW
Mike Seeger classes "Kilby Jail" as being a variant of this song. The words don't look like it to me, but certainly the gestalt is the same, so I'll go along with him. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSC100

Prisoner's Song (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer envies a sparrow its liberty. He describes the hard lot of the prisoners, "reduced to skin and bone," bound to ball and chain. He warns others not to keep bad company, or they'll be like him, serving 27 years in the penitentiary
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (collected from Christina McAllister)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer, a prisoner, strolls to see a sparrow, envying the bird its liberty; he imagines it saying, "Cheer up, my lads, and don't be sad; some day you will be free." He describes the hard lot of the prisoners, "strapping fellows reduced to skin and bone," bound to ball and chain. He warns others not to stay out late or keep bad company, or they'll be like him, serving 27 years in the penitentiary
KEYWORDS: captivity warning prison punishment freedom bird prisoner floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 99, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16638
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Boston Burglar" (lyrics)
NOTES: Despite the identical title and subject, this is a completely different song from "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; the latter has the distinguishing verse beginning "If I had the wings of an eagle." It does share a final warning verse with many other songs, however. - PJS
File: McCST099

Prisoner's Song (III), The


See Sweet Lulur (File: BrIII350)

Prisoner's Song (IV)


See New Prisoner's Song (File: RcNPS)

Prisoner's Song (V), The


DESCRIPTION: "Within this prison cell so dreary, I mourn away my weary heart." The singer must forever part from "my only darling." His love sends him a rose, and thinks him innocent, though he has "no hope of pardon." He will wear the rose as he is executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (collected by Shellans from J. Ralph Vass)
KEYWORDS: prison love separation execution flowers
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shellans, p. 74, "The Prisoner's song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7325
NOTES: This, like almost everything else in the Vass Family repertoire, souds half-familiar; I have to think it's another of their rewrites of something else. But it's not clear what. - RW
File: Shel074

Private Still, The (The Gauger's Song)


DESCRIPTION: A guager believes a private (illegal) still can be found near Dublin. He asks Pat's aid, offering fifty pounds. Pat promises to lead him there. After a long trip, they see Pat's soldier brother: "They won't make him a corporal, so he's a private still"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging sb30417b)
KEYWORDS: money drink soldier trick humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
SHenry H103, pp. 55-56, "The Private Still" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Ulster 46, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 22, pp. 51-52,112,165-166, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 60, "A Private Still" (1 text)
DT, PRVTSTIL*
Roud #2342
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(272), "The Private Still" ("An exciseman once in Dublin at the time that I was there"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also 2806 b.11(41), 2806 c.16(279), Firth b.26(131), Firth c.20(100), Harding B 11(3991), "The Private Still"
LOCSinging, sb30417b, "A Private Still," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: Morton-Ulster: "A 'Gauger' was a member of the Revenue Police, who until their disbandment in the mid 1850s, had been charged with the suppression of illicit distillation - poteen making." - BS
Broadside LOCSinging sb30417b: 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: HHH103

Privates Eat the Middlin', The


See Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)

Prodigal Son (I)


DESCRIPTION: Prodigal son, starving, decides to return home. His father embraces him, saying, "Kill the fatted calf." The elder son is jealous, but the father reassures him that he will inherit. Chorus: "I believe I'll go back home/And acknowledge I've done wrong"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: homesickness jealousy home separation return reunion Bible family father brother
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 39, #4 (1995), p, 102, "Prodigal Son" (1 text, 1 tune, indirectly based on the Dock Boggs version)
Roud #4489
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Prodigal Son" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Believe I'll Go Back Home
NOTES: This should not be confused with Rev. Robert Wilkins' song "That's No Way to Get Along", also a retelling of Luke 15:11-32; Wilkins' song was recorded by the Rolling Stones as "Prodigal Son." - PJS
The song "The Prodigal Son" in the Missouri Harmony does not appear to be the same piece either.
In addition to the songs mentioned above, there are a number of hymns which speak of the prodigal son (a title not found in the Bible, we might note; a few translations mention the youth's "prodigal living," but the King James Version is not one of them), and the boy's exploits occasionally come up in other songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcPS1

Prohibition Boys, The


DESCRIPTION: "Here is a lesson for you prohibitioners; Some wisdom it will teach; That the prohibition boys ought To practice what they preach." The song details various prohibitionists trying covertly to acquire liquor
AUTHOR: Marshal Laughinghouse?
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 309, "The Prohibition Boys" (1 text)
Roud #6632
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Prohibition Whiskey" (theme)
File: BrII309

Prohibition Whiskey


DESCRIPTION: "It's been ten years ago or more, If I've been rightly told, There was stealing done in Arapohoe Of whiskey old and new." A prohibitionist steals gin and passes it to his equally thirsty and dishonest friends. Brewers are warned about prohibitionists
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 310, "Prohibition Whiskey" (1 text)
Roud #6631
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prohibition Boys" (theme)
File: BrII310

Promised Land, The


See Where Is Old Elijah? (The Hebrew Children, The Promised Land) (File: San092)

Prop of the Nation, The


DESCRIPTION: "'Who is the support of our country today, The rich or the poor?' you may ask. No, it is the man with the toil-hardened hand Who forever you'll find at his task." The song describes the various accomplishments of the worker, from farming to construction
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: work worker
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 74, "The Prop of the Nation' (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa074 (Partial)
NOTES: Lena Bourne Fish, who sang this song for the Warners, thought it came from Rutherford B. Hayes's presidential campaign of 1876. There is, perhaps, some logic to this; Hayes, while not poor, was by no means as well-off as his Democratic opponent, Samuel Tilden. Hayes was also completely honest (a welcome change after the corruption of the Grant administration); it is sad to note that he became president as a result of Republican electoral chicanery in which he had no part. - RBW
File: Wa074

Prospecting Dream


DESCRIPTION: The singer dreams a dream of a miner's hard life. His long-tom falls in the river. His supplies are scattered. His girl is far away. His strike comes to nothing. He goes to town, gets drunk, is beaten, loses his equipment, and winds up a thief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1854 ("Put's Original California Songster")
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a prospector, tells of dreaming that he had lost his equipment and provisions, struck a rich lead, written home bragging of his find, and blown all his money on a spree. He hires out as a hardware clerk, gets fired, and is caught stealing. Chorus: "Oh what a miner, what a miner was I/All swelled up with scurvy so I really thought I'd die"
KEYWORDS: mining hardtimes drink dream poverty bragging theft disease
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "Propsecting Dream" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Prospecting Dream" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! Susanna" (tune)
File: FSWB056

Protestant Boys (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The Protestant Boys, "Orange and Blue," assemble to support the King. Appeal to William's spirit as model: "from Paypish or Frenchman ne'er to retire." "We hate [Catholics] as masters and love them as men," "God bless the people and God save the King!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1826 (_The Protestant, or True Blue_, Dublin, according to Sparling)
KEYWORDS: Ireland political religious
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 122-123, "The Protestant Boys" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 457-458, 514, "Protestant Boys"
Roud #6531
NOTES: Sparling: "In its original form dates back to 1689, but the version given is comparatively late. It is taken from 'The Protestant, or True Blue,' Dublin, 1826."
This is not the song usually referred to as "The Protestant Boys." That being the case it may be the song referred to by Colonel Blacker in Zimmermann's note below.
Zimmermann p. 297, fn 9, quoting William Archer Marching of the Lodges p. 193: "William Blacker, who also denied the existence of anti-Catholic songs in the Orange Lodges, cited as 'very much the reverse of uncharitable' a line from the charter song composed in 1796 by Captain Ryan: We hate them as masters [the Catholics], we love them as men" - BS
The reference to the French also hints at a date in the period 1795-1800, since this was the time when French intervention was constantly expected; see, e.g., the notes to "The Shan Van Voght." - RBW
File: HayU122

Protestant Boys (II), The


DESCRIPTION: "The Protestant Boys are loyal and true." They fought bravely at Derry, the Boyne and Aughrim against James who "with masses and Frenchmen the land would enslave." "Traitors shall tremble, Whene'er we assemble, For Protestant Boys shall carry the day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1895 (Graham)
KEYWORDS: battle Ireland nonballad patriotic religious
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OrangeLark 2, "The Protestant Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Graham, p. 11, "The Protestant Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "The Protestant Boys" was the tune played by "The Old Orange Flute."
Zimmermann, pp. 296-297, quotes the Earl of Gosford's 1835 testimony to the House of Commons about disturbances in County Armagh: "There are very frequent disturbances there between the parties, and I have heard of parties of people going through the town and playing party tunes, which have been productive of annoyance. -- Q. What party? -- A. The Orangemen going through the town and playing party tunes. -- Q. What tunes? -- A. "Boyne Water", and "Protestant Boys", and "Croppies lie down". -- Q. Are those tunes deemed offensive by the Catholic people of that county? -- A. Yes, certainly."
The offense was freely given and advertised, as described in "The Aughalee Heroes": "It being the twelfth day of July, Our music so sweetly did play, And 'The Protestant Boys' and 'Boyne Water', Were the tunes we played going away." - BS
For the Siege of Derry, see "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry." For the Boyne, see "The Battle of the Boyne (I)." For Aughrim, see "After Aughrim's Great Diaster." - RBW
File: OrLa002

Protestant Maid, The


DESCRIPTION: A Protestant maid marries a Catholic who has a priest help convince her to convert. The priest plans a transubstantiation demonstration. She adds arsenic to the cake and he balks at eating it. Her husband is convinced to convert to Protestantism.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (OrangeLark)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "A pretty maid, a Protestant, got to a Papist wed" In spite of her husband's urging she would not convert. He brought a priest home to convince her. The priest planned a demonstration of transubstantiation. She agreed and volunteered to make the cake. As he prepared to eat it she told him she had added arsenic; if the cake was changed by transubstantiation, it should be harmless. The priest left without a taste, crying "'This is a cursed place.'" She replied, "'You are a cursed race." Her husband was convinced to convert "and quite forsake the system that's impure."
KEYWORDS: marriage trick poison ritual Ireland religious husband wife clergy food
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OrangeLark 26, "The Protestant Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Orange Flute" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "The Banks of Dunmore" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "Garvagh Town" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "Rosedale Waters (The Skeptic's Daughter)" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "Silver Jack" [Laws C24] (subject: religious conversion)
NOTES: This almost sounds like an answer to "The Banks of Dunmore" -- with the addition, amazingly, of an actual experiment. Of course, there is the complication that the body can become relatively accustomed to arsenic, so possibly in the process of transubstantiation, the arsenic would remain behind -- and the alleged body of Christ would merely be subject to a high arsenic level which would kill the consumers. It would be an interesting experiment to try on, say, a child-abusing priest.
But the idea that anyone would be convinced by this is highly unlikely. For a discussion of the myriad arguments over transubstantiation, which is one of the many hard-to-bridge divides between Protestant and Catholic, see the notes to "The Banks of Dunmore." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OrLa026

Proud Flora


DESCRIPTION: November 8, 1802, the Proud Flora is freighted and leaves Jamaica. In a storm they "throw out some of the lumber ... then the pipes of good wine and rich brandy we were forced to throw into the sea." They land safely the next morning.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1943 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship storm sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 95-96, "Proud Flora" (1 text)
File: Ran095

Proud Lady Margaret [Child 47]


DESCRIPTION: Knight comes to court Margaret; he will have her or die. She says better men than he have died for her. She asks riddles; he answers and asks more. She agrees to wed, and lists her wealth. He calls her a liar; he is her dead brother come to humble her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: death courting riddle ghost
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Child 47, "Proud Lady Margaret" (5 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 47, "Proud Lady Margaret" (3 versions)
GreigDuncan2 336, "Proud Lady Margaret" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Dixon V, pp. 42-45, "The Bonny Hind Squire" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 162-164, "Proud Lady Margaret" (1 text)
OBB 26, "Proud Lady Margaret" (1 text)
DBuchan 49, "Proud Lady Margaret" (1 text)
DT 47, PRDMARG
Roud #37
File: C047

Proud Nancy


See Nancy (I) [Laws P11] (File: LP11)

Proud Pedlar, The


DESCRIPTION: A pedlar offers his pack of gold to sleep with a lady. She accepts. He asks her to return his pack. She refuses. He tells her husband he had borrowed her mortar to grind spice with his pestle and she kept his Pack. The husband has her return it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1750 (_Roxburghe Ballads, v. iii p. 656, according to Farmer)
KEYWORDS: adultery sex gold husband wife commerce
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan2 265, "The Pedlar" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: John Stephen Farmer, editor, Merry Songs and Ballads, Prior to the Year 1800 (1897), Vol I, pp. 247-250, "The Proud Pedlar"
Roud #5852
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cluster of Nuts" (theme: cuckolded husband settles dispute/bet between his wife and her lover)
NOTES: The sexual symbolism of mortar and pestle grinding spice is clear. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD265

Provincial Characteristics


DESCRIPTION: "A Connaught man Gets all that he can ... bully and batter ...." "A Munster man Is civil by plan ... to cheat you." "An Ulster man Ever means to trepan ... insolence ...." "A Leinster man Is with all cup and can ... calls t'other provinces knaves"
AUTHOR: Dr John Brenan (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: between 1812 and 1825 (_The Milesian Magazine; or, Irish Monthly Gleaner_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: Ireland humorous nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 125-126, "Provincial Characteristics" (1 text)
File: CrPS125

Psalm 100


See Old Hundred (File: SBoA028)

Puddy He'd a-Wooin Ride


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

Pull for the Shore


DESCRIPTION: "Light in the darkness, sailor, day is at hand!" The sailor, clinging to the old boat (presumably meaning his sinful life) is urged to "cling to self no more" and "Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore."
AUTHOR: Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876)
EARLIEST DATE: 1874 (broadside, LOCSheet, sm1874 06588)
KEYWORDS: ship religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
Roud #17400
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1874 06588, "Pull for the Shore," John Church & Co (Cincinnati)/ George F. Root (Chicago), 1874 (tune)
NOTES: This song has, at best, a very limited place in tradition; I include it because it has some connection with the story of the Titanic. Also, it has been recorded by Tom, Brad, and Alice, which may make it known to users of the Index.
I'm surprised it isn't more popular; it wasn't in any of the nine early- to mid-twentieth century hymnals I checked (Baptist, Episcopal, two types of Lutheran, Methodist, Mormon, non-denominational military, Presbyterian, and one I'm not sure about). The tune is magnificent. Of course, the words are a bit un-hymn-like. And, with the exception of the prhrase "bright and morning star" (for which see Rev. 22:16), the words do not appear directly Bible-inspired -- though the whole thing might be suggested by Paul's shipwreck in Acts 27.
That phrase "bright and morning star" is interesting, by the way. The literal Greek text reads "the star the bright the morning." This isn't as clumsy in Greek as in English, perhaps, but I think it is an indication of the Aramaic habits of the writer. The King James Bible tried to preserve the feeling with its "bright and morning star" rendering; most of the newer translations simply say "bright morning star."
There is an interesting note on the dating: Laura Ingalls Wilder quotes this in Little Town on the Prairie, chapter 6. And it is sung by several men from a saloon (ironic, that). She quotes it again, in a more suitable context, in chapter 23. Wilder put it in a context that is after the song was composed (1881, I believe), but not much after; either it spread quickly, or Laura misremembered where she heard it.
For more on Philip Paul Bliss, see the notes to "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdPuFoSh

Pulling Hard Against the Stream


DESCRIPTION: "In the world I've gained my knowledge, And for it have had to pay... Do your best for one another... Help a worn and weary brother Pulling hard against the stream." The singer advises helping those in need
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton (per Ives-NewBrunswick)
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Spaeth); 19C (broadside, LOCSinging as110820)
KEYWORDS: nonballad help
FOUND IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 54, "Pulling Hard against the Stream" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 157-158, "Pulling Hard Against the Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 133-136, "Pulling Hard Against the Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1958
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as110820, "Pulling Hard Against the Stream," unknown, 19C
NOTES: Although the description sounds like a religious song, there are in fact no explicit Christian references in this piece. - RBW
Ives's attribution of authorship to Harry Clifton is supported by the "Song Writers of the Halls" article -- quoting The Melodies Linger On by Walter Macqueen-Pope -- on Harry Clifton at Frederick Denny's World of the Music Hall site. - BS
For background on author Harry Clifton, see the notes to "The Good Ship Kangaroo." - RBW
File: Br3054

Pullman Train, The


See The Harvard Student (The Pullman Train) (File: R391)

Pumpe-Vise


DESCRIPTION: Norwegian pumping shanty, with chorus in English. "Blow, blow, blow, blow! Land is coming in a-lee." Verses have no story, just general sailing rhymes. Verses are repeated twice before the chorus is sung.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Brochmann's _Opsang Fra Seilskibstiden_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty ship
FOUND IN: Norway
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 507-508, "Pumpe-Vise" (1 text)
File: Hugi507

Punch Ladle, The


See Fathom the Bowl (File: K268)

Punchin' Dough


DESCRIPTION: The cook points out to the cowboys that "While you're punchin' cattle I'm punchin' the dough." His life is much like theirs, except that he fights with food where they fight with animals. He intends to be "boss of this end of the show."
AUTHOR: Credited by Thorp to Henry Herbert Knibbs
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Thorp)
KEYWORDS: cowboy cook food
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 37, "Punchin' Dough" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PNCHDOUG*
Roud #5098
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "Punchin' the Dough" (Victor V-40263, 1930)
Harry Jackson, "The Round-Up Cook" (on HJackson1, CowFolkCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Budd Lake Plains" (theme)
cf. "The Pot Wrassler" (theme)
NOTES: The cook on a cattle run was usually an old cowboy who could no longer do the work. It's hardly surprising that he looked on the cowboys as "kids" -- nor that he used his control over the chuck to keep the cowboys in line. - RBW
File: FCW037

Punctuality


DESCRIPTION: The singer is not like "fidgety folks ... famous for being too soon." "Punctuality's all very proper"; he is always "exactly ten minutes too late." He misses trains, arrives to propose after his rival, and at death's door will take his medicine too late.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 657, "Punctuality" (1 text)
Roud #6083
File: GrD3657

Pup from Claodach, The


DESCRIPTION: Irish and English. The borrowed pup was so badly treated, poorly fed, homesick, and unhappy that it broke its chain and ran home, crossing "those bleak and barren ranges of Claodach"
AUTHOR: Sean Eoin O Suilleabhain (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage ordeal nonballad dog
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OCanainn, pp. 94-95, "Pup from Claodach, The" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OCanainn: [The song] "concerns a pup that was loaned to the McCarthys of Claodach, which is just over the [Cork] county bounds.... It seems that the animal was not well treated by the McCarthys and both they and Claodach come in for a fair amount of criticism in the song." - BS
File: OCan094

Purple Boy, The


DESCRIPTION: A girl asks her "Purple Boy" the secrets given man from "King Solomon's high Temple Throne." He cannot reveal them. "Those Ribbon rascals I would defy." She wishes she were a man "that I could join in your Orange band." Girls should choose a Purple boy.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: love ritual Ireland nonballad political
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 133, "The Purple Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
OrangeLark 33, "The Purple Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBoyle 21, "The Purple Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3478
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dialogue Between Orange and Croppy" (subject)
NOTES: "Following an affray at Loughgall in Co. Armagh in 1795 the Orange Order was founded, while the Yeomen were also established in June 1796. These were made up mainly of men from the Orange Lodges." (source: The 1798 Rebellion on the Hogan Stand site)
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"
Zimmermann, p. 303: "Other Protestant organizations, such as ... the Royal Purple Chapter, developed parallel with Orangeism...."
Within the Orange Lodges, "Purple Marksmen" refers to one of the Master degree, above "Orange" and "Orange Marksman," of the Orange Institution (source: "The Formation of the Orange Order 21st September 1795" in the anti-Orange Evangelical Truth at NIreland.com site). See Zimmermann's song references to "The Purple Marksman" [p. 315] and "The Purple Stream" [p. 303, fn. 39].
Tunney-StoneFiddle: .".. songs alluding to the ritual and secrets of the [Orange] Order are few and far between. Indeed, until 1952 when one William Coulter sang 'The Purple Boy' for Sean O Boyle, it was not sung outside the Lodge." - BS
File: TSF133

Purple Dress, The


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

Purty Molly Brannigan


See Polly Brannigan (File: E153E)

Push Along, Keep Moving


DESCRIPTION: The singer attempts various enterprises, all ending in failure (e.g. when he opens a "whiskey shop," his wife demands all the drink for herself); after each failure, he sets out on a new adventure. Moral/refrain: "Push along, keep moving"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (The Theatrical Budget)
KEYWORDS: humorous drink work
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
JHCox 180, "The Nigger Tune" (1 text)
ST JHCox180 (Full)
Roud #5469
NOTES: According to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s The Age of Jackson, p. 4, "the celebrate Buffo singer" George Washington Dixon was making the song "Push-a-Long, Keep Moving" popular at the time of Andrew Jackson's 1829 inauguration; Dixon also sang "The Hunters of Kentucky" and, slightly later, "Old Zip Coon." - RBW
File: JHCox180

Push Boat


DESCRIPTION: The hard work and low pay of poling on the Big Sandy River are described. Much of the song is devoted to the relations between the singer and his girl, (Cynthie Jane).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: river ship work courting sailor
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 35-37, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 567, "Push Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PUSHBOAT*
Roud #8088
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Liza Jane" (lyrics)
NOTES: This reminds me -- very strongly -- of "Liza Jane," and the two have assorted individual lines in common. I would not be surprised if they have a common origin. But they have drifted enough that we separate them. - RBW
File: BMRF567

Push the Business On


DESCRIPTION: "Hire a horse," "steal a gig," "all the world shall have a jig." We do what we can to "pass the music on" or "push the business on"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad playparty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1616, "To Pass the Music On" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12981
NOTES: Gomme's five versions (2.86-88) are pretty much the same. The "push the business on" in the game precedes a change in partners "until each girl has partnered each boy." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81616

Pussiker, Pussiker


DESCRIPTION: "Poussikie, poussikie, wow! Where'll we get banes to chow? We'll up the bog, And worry a hogg, And then we'll get bones enow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: dialog animal food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1674, "Pussiker, Pussiker" (1 short text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 22, ("Poussikie, poussikie, wow")
Roud #13521
NOTES: The current description is all of the Chambers text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Grd81674

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?


DESCRIPTION: "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to look at the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: dialog animal royalty
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 428, "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #150, p. 116, "(Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 1, "(Pussy, pussy baudrons)" (1 text)
ST OO2428 (Partial)
Roud #15094
NOTES: According to the Baring-Goulds, there was an incident similar to this during the reign of Elizabeth I, and many have thought the song refers to that.
There is an English proverb, "A cat may look at a king," which is quoted, e.g., in Alice in Wonderland, chapter VIII, "The Queen's Croquet Ground." The idea also appears in Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #759, p. 759. Whether either is in any way related I do not know. - RBW
File: OO2428

Put Me In My Little Bed


DESCRIPTION: "Oh birdie, I am tired now, I do not care to hear you sing." The child asks the bird to go to sleeps, and requests, "come put me in my little bed." The singer recalls her mother telling her "never, never go astray"
AUTHOR: Words: Dexter Smith / Music: C. A. White
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: orphan bird death mother
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 279-280, "Put Me In My Little Bed" (1 text)
Roud #4339
RECORDINGS:
Leake County Revelers, "Put Me In My Little Bed" (Columbia 15292-D, 1928)
NOTES: Belden's notes to this song are confused. He claims that Spaeth refers to this song in Read 'Em and Weep -- but there is no such reference, at least in my copy. Spaeth does, however, mention the song in A History of Popular Music in America as one of several hits by C. A. White.
White seems to have had a thing about birds; his first big hit was "Come, Birdie, Come."
Spaeth claims that this song was the forerunner of the more popular "Put My Little Shoes Away." - RBW
File: Beld279

Put My Little Shoes Away


DESCRIPTION: "Mother dear, come bathe my forehead For I'm growing very weak...." The dying child bids farewell to friends and family, and asks mother to "Put my little shoes away." They were brought by Santa, and can eventually be given to the baby
AUTHOR: Samuel N. Mitchell & Charles E. Pratt?
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Chappell); probably written 1873
KEYWORDS: death clothes family
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 715, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 463-465, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 715A)
Chappell-FSRA 116, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 25-26, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PUTSHOES*
Roud #4340
RECORDINGS:
Big Slim Aliff, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Decca 5329, 1937)
Wilf Carter, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Bluebird [Canada] B-4617, c. 1938; Bluebird B-9032 [as Montana Slim], 1942)
Chuck Wagon Gang, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Melotone 7-08-55, 1937)
Cramer Brothers, [pseud. for Vernon Dalhart and -- probably -- Carson Robison] "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Broadway 8071, c. 1930)
Girls of the Golden West, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Bluebird 5226, 1933)
Lester McFarland & Bob Roberts, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Brunswick 322, 1929; Supertone S-2038, 1930)
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Decca 29645, 1955); (Brunswick 05567)
Riley Puckett, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Columbia 15125-D, 1927; rec. 1926)
Red Fox Chasers, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Supertone 9535, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4963, 1936)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Conqueror 8208, 1933)
Vagabonds, "Little Shoes" (Montgomery Ward M-4239, 1933)
Henry Whitter, "Put Away My Little Shoes" (Okeh 45046, 1926)
NOTES: The era of this song may explain its odd request: By the time of the Civil War, factory-made shoes were available, but were quite primitive, with no left and right hand versions. Shoes thus were easily acquired, but well-made shoes were becoming more of a luxury as the factory shoes made life harder for cobblers. - RBW
File: R715

Put on the Skillet


See Shortenin' Bread (File: R255)

Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet


DESCRIPTION: "On the old farmhouse veranda there sat Silas and Miranda, Thinking of days gone by." They realize they have been married for fifty years. They leap up, forgetting the years, and go to town to celebrate all the happy times
AUTHOR: Words: Stanley Murphy / Music: Percy Wenrich
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean); apparently published 1909
KEYWORDS: love marriage
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Dean, p. 89, "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet" (1 text)
DT, GOLDWED3*
Roud #5491
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet
File: Dean089

Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet


See Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet (File: Dean089)

Put the Old Man to Sleep


See Luir A Chodla (Put the Old Man to Sleep) (File: LoF191)

Put the Traffic Down


DESCRIPTION: "Here comes Jones with his face so cross"; drink has left him destitute. "Here comes Squire Brown," rich from selling liquor. The singer calls for an end to the liquor trade: "Put it down, put it down, put the unholy traffic down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Randolph); reportedly used by Holy Rollers in 1898
KEYWORDS: drink political money
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 314, "Put the Traffic Down" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 267-269, "Put the Traffic Down" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 314A)
Roud #7790
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Yorktown Rum Seller
Old Jones
File: R314

Put Yer Shoulder Next to Mine and Pump Away


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Formula verses about bringing a girl presents until she apparently allows herself to be seduced. Verse lines are repeated in choruses. Full chorus: "Put yer shoulder next to mine and pump away, pump away." (x2)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Formula verses about bringing a girl presents until she apparently allows herself to be seduced. Verse lines are repeated in choruses. Full chorus: "Put yer shoulder next to mine and pump away, pump away." (x2) Once I had a girl, had a girl, had a girl (x2) she had me in a whirl. Chorus. I brought her presents one... she said I shouldn't have done, etc. I brought her presents two... and her heart she let me woo." and so forth, until "I brought her presents nine... the baby's doing fine."
KEYWORDS: shanty courting gift cumulative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 508-509, "Put Yer Shoulder Next to Mine and Pump Away" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 374-375]
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Roll Me Over" (tune)
NOTES: Hugill says this was popular only on British ships. Very likely gave rise to "Roll Me Over." - SL
File: Hugi508

Put Your Little Foot (Varsouvienna)


DESCRIPTION: "Put your little foot (x2) Put your little foot right there... Take a step to the right, Take a step to the left, But forever stay near." Further invitations to move closer follow: "Put... your arm around my waist... We will dance through the night."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ohrlin-HBT 45, "Put Your Little Foot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 47, 79-80, 182, 218, 230, 241, "Varsovienna" (6 tunes)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 19, 31, 38, 66, 99-100, 137, "Varsoviana" (and variant spellings) (6 tunes)
RECORDINGS:
Glenn Ohrlin, "Varsouviana" (on Ohrlin01)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Put Your Little Foot Right Out
Varsouvienne
NOTES: The "Varsouvianna" (Varsouvienna, etc.; described as a variation on the mazurka) tune is very common, and is cited sporadically in the references here. How often it bears this particular set of lyrics is less certain; few if any of the Australian versions, for instance, have words. - RBW
Ohrlin remarks that "Put Your Little Foot" was usually the cue for a fight to start. - PJS
File: Ohr045

Putnam's Hill


See Shule Agra (Shool Aroo[n], Buttermilk Hill, Johnny's Gone for a Soldier) (File: R107)

Putting On Airs


DESCRIPTION: "No use talking (x2), The truth itself declares, If you act like the folks of fashion do, You're bound to put on airs." The singer doesn't want to mix in others' affairs, but he observes how both boys and girls dress up and put on airs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: clothes beauty courting nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 460, "Putting on Airs" (1 text)
Brewster 82, "You've Got to Put on Airs" (1 text)
ST R460 (Partial)
Roud #3773
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boys Around Here" (theme)
cf. "Putting on the Style" (theme)
cf. "When Young Men Go Courting" (theme)
NOTES: The last several verses of Randolph's text look almost like modifications of "Putting on the Style," but the first verse and chorus are different enough that I separate them. - RBW
File: R460

Putting On the Style


DESCRIPTION: A series of comments on the folly of those who put on false faces. Example: "Young man in a carriage driving like he's mad... He cracks his whip so lively just to see his lady smile, But she knows he's only puttin' on the style."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: humorous vanity pride
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 469, "Putting On the Style" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 320-322, "Putting On the Style" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 469A)
FSCatskills 109, "Puttin' On the Style" (1 text, 1 tune+variant form)
JHCox 184, "Putting On the Style" ( text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 68, "Putting On The Style" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 24, "Putting On The Style" (1 text)
DT, PUTONSTY PUTONST2*
Roud #3767
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Putting On Style" (Vocalion 15327, 1926) (Columbia 15082-D, 1926) (Edison 52118, 1927)
Warde Ford, "Putting on the Agony" [with half a verse of, "Our Goodman"] (AFS 4200 B3, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Pete Seeger, "Puttin' On the Style" (on PeteSeeger04); "Putting On the Style" (on PeteSeeger11)
[Ernest Stoneman &] The Dixie Mountaineers, "Puttin' on the Style" (Edison, unissued, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Putting on Airs" (theme)
cf. "Sweet Sixteen" (theme)
cf. "The Truth Twice Told" (subject)
NOTES: Cazden et al have very extensive notes about the origins of this song, which largely boil down to, "Hey, we found this song, and it belongs to us and our informant!" Nonetheless, their notes, and the existence of the several versions in Randolph, demonstrate that the song has become a true folk piece. - RBW
Seeger dates this song from the 1880s, but offers no documentation. - PJS
The version in Cox, collected in 1917, was reported to be from the informant's mother, which makes a nineteenth century date highly likely. Indeed, the first verse begins,
Eighteen hundred seventy one,
January the first,
Thought I'd write a poem,
If I could or durst.
It will be noted, however, that this verse doesn't scan as well as the others. But Randolph's informant Doney Hammontree said it was in "all the popular songbooks" in the 1890s. Still, the biggest single factor in its popularity was probably the Dalhart recording. - RBW
File: R469

Pytoria (Run Come See Jerusalem)


See Run Come See (File: FSWB058)

Quack, Quack, Quack


DESCRIPTION: "There were three ducks that I once knew, Pretty ducks, fat ducks they were too, But the one with a feather curled up on his back, Oh, he ruled the others with a quack, quack, quack." The behavior of the ducks and their leader is described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 126, "Quack, Quack, Quack" (1 text)
Roud #7848
File: Br3126

Quaker (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "Verily high! Verily oh! Vivity vob like the shaker. All this wealth is awfully wrong And it terribly puzzles the quaker."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (recording, Bampton Morris and Jinky Wells); 1907 (_Fores's ..._ fragment); 1880 (_"Brummagem" Bright_ "parody?)
KEYWORDS: nonballad recitation
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
RECORDINGS:
Bampton Morris and Jinky Wells, "The Quaker" (on Voice16)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Bampton Morris and Jinky Wells version on Voice16.
This is a dance tune. The words, which could be sung to the tune, may suggest the step.
The lines are quoted as "Oh, this world is awfully rum, It terribly puzzles the Quaker!" in Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches, (London, 1907 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. XXIV, p. 33. A political verse - "In '74 the Tories came in, 'Oh Britain! what will awake her?' 'They're just as strong as ever they've been,' That's what puzzles the Quaker" - is in "Brummagem" Bright, (London, 1880 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 26.- BS
File: RcTQuak1

Quaker (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The Quaker is a ship with five hundred and fifty seamen. "By those blooming French dogs, we'll never be controlled." We fought them "till they could no longer stay." The war is over. A health to true girls and Lord Nelson "the best of all our crew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Freddie James, RQMS Williams, G.W. Greening and Harry Hawkins?)
KEYWORDS: battle navy sea ship patriotic
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
Roud #3093
RECORDINGS:
Freddie James, RQMS Williams, G.W. Greening and Harry Hawkins?, "The Quaker" (on Voice16)
NOTES: A ship with 550 sailors would have to be a Ship of the Line. I can't find a line battleship named Quaker in any British records, pre- or post-Trafalgar. The closest I can see to a similarly-named ship is the 64-gun Caton. But that's hardly the most famous ship in the navy. We should probably just treat the ship name as an error. - RBW
File: RcQuak2

Quaker's Courtship, The


DESCRIPTION: The Quaker comes to court the girl. He offers her a ring and money; she tells him she wants a man to call her honey. He tells her she is pretty; she calls him a flatterer. He gives up; she tells him to "Find a Quaker girl to marry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1878 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1878 x0003)
KEYWORDS: courting discrimination ring
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Belden, p. 265, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, lacking any reference to a Quaker but probably this)
Randolph 362, "The Courting Song" (4 texts, 2 tunes, though Randolph's "A" text is rather tenuously related to the others); 363, "I'm Going Away to Texas" (3 texts, 1 tune, the "C" text appearing to belong here; "A" is I'm Going Away to Texas" and "C" is perhaps "The Quaker's Courtship" ))
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 295-297, "The Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 362C)
BrownIII 4, "Madam Mozelle, I've Come Courting" (1 fragment, too short to identify with certainty but perhaps this song); 8, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, also short)
Linscott, pp. 276-278, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 154-155, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 23, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 158, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 36, "A Sport Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 176, "The Quaker Song" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 199-200, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 fragment, 1 tune, which might be either this or "Wheel of Fortune")
Lomax-FSNA 12, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, p. 587, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 108, pp. 223-224, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text)
ST R362 (Partial)
Roud #716
RECORDINGS:
Buell Kazee, [Madam, I Have Come A-Courting] (on Kazee01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1878 x0003, "The Quaker's Courtship," Alex Forbes (unknown), 1878 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keys of Canterbury"
cf. "No, John, No"
cf. "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)"
NOTES: The "courting songs" listed in the cross-references have cross-fertilized heavily; one should examine texts carefully to see where a particular variant belongs.
One form of this in particular, "Madam, I Have Come A-Courting," has worn down so much that it some versions almost no elements left to allow identification. An example is Buell Kazee's version:
Madam, I have come a-courting, Oh dear, oh dear me. Come a-courting, not a-sporting....
Well if that is your desire, Fa da link dum, fa da day, You can sit and court the fire....
I've a ring worth many a shilling... You can wear it if you're willing....
I'll not have your ring or money... Want me a man to call me honey....
Intermediate texts such as Belden's, though, imply that such items probably belong here. - RBW
File: R362

Quaker's Wife, The


DESCRIPTION: "The (Quaker's/Baker's) wife sat doon to bake, With all her bairns about her, She baked them every one a cake...." "And then the miller sat doon to play A tune upon the spinnet." "Merrily danced the Quaker's wife, And merrily danced the Quaker."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (_Songs for the Nursery collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets_, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: cook food dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1734, "The Quaker's Wife" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Opie-Oxford2 432, "The Quaker's wife got up to bake" (2 texts)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 87, "(The Quaker's wife sat doon to bake)" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol II, p. 594, ("The quaker’s wife sat down to bake")
Roud #6479
File: MNSR087

Quaker's Wooing (I), The


See Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) AND "The Quaker's Courtship" (File: E098)

Quaker's Wooing (II), The


See The Quaker's Courtship (File: R362)

Quand j'etais fille de quinze ans (When I Was a Fifteen Year Old Girl)


DESCRIPTION: French. When I was a girl all the boys came to my house to laugh and go to the ball and dance. No longer. I have a household to maintain and children to look after. Chorus: "When I was a girl, Oh! What delightful joy to be a girl fifteen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage marriage wife youth
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, p. 581, "Quand j'etais fille de quinze ans" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea581

Quand le Boiteuse Va-t-au Marche (When the Lame One goes to Market)


DESCRIPTION: French shanty. No particular story, each verse line is repeated as a refrain. Full Chorus: "Ah! ma doue, quel trŽsor d'avoir Žpouse (2x), Un coeur tout en or!" "Oh, my dear, what treasure to have married, to have wed (2x) a heart of gold!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Hayet, _Chansons de bord_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French shanty. No particular story, each verse line is repeated as a refrain. Full Chorus: "Ah! ma doue, quel trŽsor d'avoir Žpouse (2x), Un coeur tout en or!" "Oh, my dear, what treasure to have married, to have wed (2x) a heart of gold!" Some of the verses are reminiscent of "The Fire Ship" in the use of naval euphemisms, i.e. (in translation) "and then he furls her petticoat, clewing up her lower sails," "then to get goin' the smart topman, send up her the main topmast."
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty bawdy
FOUND IN: France
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 514-515, "Quand le Boiteuse Va-t-au Marche" (2 texts-French & English, 1 tune)
File: Hugi514

Quantrell


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you bold robbers and open your ears, Of QuantrelI the lion-heart you quickly will hear." Quantrell raids and burns Lawrence, Kansas, but allegedly he supports to the poor, and "a brave man or woman he'll never annoy."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: outlaw
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 21, 1863 - Quantrill's Raiders destroy Lawrence, Kansas, killing about 150 men.
May 10, 1865 - Quantrill is mortally wounded on his way to Washington (where he hoped to stir up trouble by assassination). He dies 20 days later.
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 132-133, "Quantrell" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, QUANTRLL*
Roud #4094
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Charlie Quantrell" (subject)
cf. "The Call of Quantrell" (subject)
NOTES: As is so often the case with outlaw ballads, this paints much too pretty a picture. For a brief background on Quantrill (the name used in Confederate records), see the notes to "Charlie Quantrell."
To tell this song from other Quantrell pieces, consider this first stanza:
Come all you bold robbers and open your ears
Of QuantrelI the lion-heart you quickly will hear
With his band of bold raiders in double-quick time
He came to burn Lawrence just over the line.
This song is item dE33 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: LoA132

Quare Bungle Rye


See Quare Bungo Rye (File: Log416)

Quare Bungo Rye


DESCRIPTION: Sailor Jack meets a girl, who offers to sell him "old bungo rye." Jack thinks it a whiskey, and buys her basket. In it he finds a child. Jack declares the child to be "quare bungo rye," and has the child christened with that name
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: sailor drink children baby trick clergy
FOUND IN: Britain Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Logan, pp. 416-421, "Bung Your Eye" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 305, "Bung Your Eye" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
SHenry H700, pp. 277-278, "Mind Your Eye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 895-896, "Young Bung-'er-eye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 39, "Jack the Sailor" (1 fragment, probably this though the chorus has swapped off somewhere, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 211-212, "Blow the Man Down" (1 text, version "F" of "Blow the Man Down" sung to the tune of "Lowlands Low") [AbEd, pp. 166-167]
DT, QUARERYE*
ST Log416 (Full)
Roud #2404
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Bungle Rye" (on IRClancyMakem02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Basket of Eggs" (plot and baby in basket motif) and references there
cf. "The Child in the Budget" (baby in basket motif)
cf. "The Oyster Girl" [Laws Q13] (mysterious--read female--"box" motif)
cf. "Bung Yer Eye" (chorus lyrics)
cf. "The Charming Young Widow I Met on the Train" (theme of the female leaving a baby)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Queer Bungo Rye
Quare Bungle Rye
The Exciseman
Bangeria
NOTES: Re:the mysterious box motif. The Lesley Nelson-Burns site Folk Music of England Scotland Ireland, Wales & America collection includes a page by John Renfro Davis with text for this ballad as "Quare Bungle Rye" and a note that "This is a variant of The Oyster Girl." The note goes on to cite a Bodleian broadside for The Oyster Girl. It also cites as "variants and alternate titles" The Basket of Oysters, Bungerye, Queer Bungle Rye, Quare Bungo Rye, Young Bung-'er'Eye, The Basket of Eggs, and Eggs in Her Basket.
The Oyster Maid/Basket of Eggs connection similarities are based on the motif of a sailor being fooled by a woman into taking something hidden in a basket which, in some versions, turns out to be a baby. While the parallels -- including the sexual symbolisms -- are obvious, these should be treated as three different ballads because of the differences in the punch lines.
The motif of the "box" with *censored* contents that cannot just be thrown away is even closer to the 1950 Phil Harris hit "The Thing" written by Charles R. Grean and set to the tune of "The Chandler's Wife." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Log416

Quartermaster Corps, The (The Quartermaster Store)


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, it's beer , beer, beer that makes you feel so queer, In the corps, in the corps." "My eyes are dim, I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me." Similarly, "...cheese... brings you to your knees," and so forth with other army items
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: army soldier food disease nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 272, "The Quartermaster Store" (1 text)
DT, QMCORP*
Roud #10508
File: FSWB272A

Quay of Dundocken


See The Isle of Man Shore (The Quay of Dundocken; The Desolate Widow) [Laws K7] (File: LK07)

Quays of Belfast, The


See The Isle of Man Shore (The Quay of Dundocken; The Desolate Widow) [Laws K7] (File: LK07)

Que Bonita Bandera


DESCRIPTION: Spanish language; Puerto Rican patriotic song: "What a beautiful flag, it is the flag of Puerto Rico"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (heard by Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: patriotic nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
PSeeger-AFB, p. 14, "Que Bonita Bandera" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: PSAFB014

Quebec


See Brave Wolfe [Laws A1] (File: LA01)

Queen Among the Heather


DESCRIPTION: Young man, hunting, spies a girl herding sheep among the heather. He is smitten; she is "the bonniest lassie that e'er I saw." He asks her to go with him; she demurs, saying he's a squire and she but a shepherd's daughter. He perseveres and succeeds.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (recording, Harry Lauder)
KEYWORDS: courting love beauty farming lover nobility worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(MW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Kennedy 141, "The Queen Among the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan5 962, "The Lass Amang the Heather" (3 texts)
Ord, p. 433, "My Lovely Nancy" (1 text)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 115-117, "Herding Lambs Among the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 74, "Herding Lambs Amongst the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 51, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 fragment, listed as Child #236 but clearly a version either of this or "Heather Down the Moor"; the stanza form tentatively places it here)
Roud #375
RECORDINGS:
Harry Lauder, "Queen Among the Heather" (Victor 60010, 1910)
Belle Stewart, "Queen Amang the Heather" (on Voice15)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.15(240), "The Blooming Heather" ("As I was coming home, from the fair of Ballymena"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(331), 2806 c.14(60), "The Blooming Heather"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Heather Down the Moor" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Bonnie Lass Among the Heather" (subject)
cf. "The Laboring Man's Daughter (The Knight's Dream)" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Skippin' Barfit thro the Heather
Queen Amang the Heather
NOTES: This song is very close to "Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor)"; they have similar plots and occasional common lyrics. Roud lumps them. There will be versions where it is almost impossible to tell which is which. I thought about listing them as one song.
But on consideration, "Heather Down the Moor" has two characteristics rarely seen in "Queen among the Heather." First, "Heather Down the Moor" tends to follow a complex stanza pattern of eight-line stanzas with complex internal chorus and repeats (see sample with that song). "Queen among the Heather" usually has simple four-line stanzas.
"Heather down the Moor" also tends to end with the lines
But if I were a king, I would make her a queen,
The bonnie lass I met among the heather
Down the moor.
In "Queen Among the Heather," he *is* a nobleman, so that obviously isn't a concern. - RBW
Note that the Lauder recording predates not only the otherwise-earliest collection we have found for this song, but also the earliest citation we've found for its sibling, "Heather Down the Moor". - PJS
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Queen Amang the Heather" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K141

Queen Anne


DESCRIPTION: "Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun, As fair as a lily, as white as a wand, I send you three letters, and pray read one, You must read one, if you can't read all, So pray, Miss or Master, throw up the ball."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 190 (Cecil Sharp collections)
KEYWORDS: playparty royalty nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose (note to) #187, p. 134 ("Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun")
Roud #12755
NOTES: This is connected by folklore to Anne of Great Britain (1665-1714; reigned 1702-1714), who is reported to have enjoyed sitting in the sun in gardens. But it can't have been an eyewitness account, since Anne was hardly fair of face and not particularly fair of hue. - RBW
File: BGMG186N

Queen Caroline


DESCRIPTION: "Queen, queen, Caroline, Dipped her hair in turpentine, Turpentine made it shine, Queen, queen Caroline"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonballad royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1643, "Queen Caroline" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Henry Carrington Bolton, Counting-Out Rhymes of Children (New York, 1888 ("Digitized by Google")), #785 p.116, ("Queen, queen, Caroline")
Roud #13061
NOTES: The current description is all of a Bolton text from Edinburgh. Except for spelling and punctuation differences, it is the same as GreigDuncan8."And so began the mad, fantastic summer of 1820, the summer when international politics, sport and even the London season were forgotten. The Queen was the only subject of interest....
And in all four kingdoms the younger generation were chanting
Queenie, queenie Caroline
Washed her hair in turpentine ….
a song which is heard in the slums of Dublin today" (Source: Joanna Richardson, The Disastrous Marriage; a Study of George IV and Caroline of Brunswick (1960, London), pp. 137-138.) - BS
There were in fact two Queens Caroline, great-grandmother-in-law (if there is such a thing) and great-granddaughter-in-law. Caroline of (Brandenburg-)Anbsbach, 1683-1737, was the wife of George II; Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821) was the wife of George IV, the eldest son of George III (who was the grandson of George II).
George II and Caroline of Anspach got along pretty well despite his infidelities. George IV was also a womanizer, and he and Caroline of Brunswick did *not* get along; John Cannon, editor, The Oxford Companion to British History, Oxford, 1997, p. 169, calls their marriage a Òspectacular disaster. According to her own testimony, intimacy was confined to the first night, and certainly the couple separated after the birth of their first daughter.Ó
When George IV took the throne (1820), he supposedly offered her a pension to stay abroad and leave him alone. She refused it and came back to England after a long period abroad -- but died just weeks after George's coronation, which no doubt saved everyone (except her) a good deal of grief.
Norah Lofts, Queens of England, Doubleday, 1977, p. 151, observes that her behavior once she and her husband parted was so scandalous as to prompt an investigation, although it found that she was merely indiscrete, not adulterous. But her indiscretion apparently reached the point of appearing topless in public (Lofts, p. 153). No doubt she was also quite capable of using turpentine to try to color her hair. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81643

Queen Eleanor's Confession [Child 156]


DESCRIPTION: Queen Eleanor, dying, calls for two friars. King Henry decides to substitute himself and Earl Marshal. Eleanor confesses to many sins against Henry, often with the Earl. Henry reveals himself and wishes that he could tell the world what Eleanor said
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1723
KEYWORDS: trick humorous royalty disease clergy disguise
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1189 - Death of Henry II
1204 - Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(Lond))
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Child 156, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (7 texts)
Bronson 156, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 version)
GreigDuncan2 208, "Queen Eleanor" (2 texts)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 462-465, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (notes plus a text of Child A)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 127-132, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text, from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 164-168, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text)
BrownII 35, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (notes only)
Leach, pp. 431-433, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text)
PBB 72, "Queen Elenor's Confession" (1 text)
Niles 48, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN2274, "Queen Elenor was a sick Woman"
DT 156, QECONFES
ST C156 (Full)
Roud #74
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosamund Clifford" (subject)
cf. "Fair Rosamond" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Dying Queen
NOTES: It is generally assumed that this song refers to the relationship between England's King Henry II and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. If so, the element of error in this ballad is immense. Note the following:
* Eleanor (1122?-1204) outlived Henry Plantagenet (1133-1189) by fifteen years.
* Neither Earl Marshal nor King Henry took Queen Eleanor's maidenhead; she had previously been married to, and had two daughters by, Louis VII of France.
* Eleanor could hardly have poisoned Henry's mistress Rosamund Clifford; by the time Rosamund died, Henry had placed Eleanor under close arrest.
* Many versions refer to Whitehall. Whitehall was built for Anne Boleyn in the sixteenth century, three and a half centuries after the death of Henry II (Lofts, p. 85).
* Eleanor calls for a pair of friars to hear her confession. Presumably she wanted friars because they were itinerant; other clergymen would be permanently attached to an English diocese. But, according to Chambers, p. 156, friars were not supposed to hear confession. And certainly not two of them! This lack of knowledge of Catholic practice indicates that the song is post-Reformation.
So we must admit that the details are wrong. Could there, perhaps, be a faint bit of truth at the core? This is a long story -- and a difficult question to answer definitively. Reliable information about Eleanor is often lacking. As Owen says on p. 3, "There is no certainty as to the date and place of [her birth], though it is most commonly thought to have taken place in 1122, either in Poitiers or in the castle of Belin near Bordeaux."
Checking other sources shows just how much uncertainty there can be even about something as seemingly straightforward as this. OxfordCompanion, p. 359, gives her birth date as "c. 1122"; so too Meade, p. viii, and Ashley, p. 521. Warren-Henry, pp. 43-44n., says probably 1122 and no later than 1124. Kelly, p. 1, says 1122. Markale, p. 14, says probably 1122, possibly 1120. Harvey, p. 48, says she was eight years older than Henry II, which probably means 1125. McLynn, p. 8, says 1124, and defends this date on p. 28 (although the argument is based mostly on the date when her youngest son was born). Fawtier, p. 139, says she was 80 when she died, implying 1123 or 1124. Dahmus, p. 154, says she was 67 in 1189, and 82 at the time of her death, implying a birth date of 1121 or 1122.
Aquitaine, her duchy, had been a sort of autonomous fragment of Charlemagne's empire. In 951, William I became its duke, founding the line from which Eleanor sprang (Owen, p. 4). Over the next century and a half, the Dukes of Aquitaine increased their reach to include, e.g., Gascony. In 1071, this line gave birth to William IX, known as the "first of the troubadours" (Markale, p. 14). He did much to promote the ideal of Courtly Love (which, in an era when most marriages were political, in effect meant "fornication"). Owen, p. 7, quotes a thirteenth century source which calls William IX "one of the most courtly men in the world and one of the greatest deceivers of women."
William IX died in 1127, and his son William X in 1137 (Owen, p. 10; Markale, p. 17, says that William X died very conveniently, on a pilgrimage to Compostella, but can offer no actual evidence of funny business). Until then, there had been hope that he would beget a male heir, but his death obviously ended that possibility. That left William X's teenage daughter Eleanor as heir to Aquitaine, which by this time was actually larger -- and richer -- than the personal fief of the King of France (Kelly, p. 4). True, the Duchess of Aquitaine was a subject of the King of France -- but the King of France had only nominal authority over most of his dukes (Normandy too was only theoretically subject to French control; its Dukes generally ignored the French king).
From the moment her father died without a male heir, Eleanor became the most sought-after woman in Christendom. Some of that was because she was young and pretty -- but mostly, she was *rich*. Aquitaine was hard to control, but since when did that bother a medieval nobleman? There seem to have been multiple plots to kidnap her in the weeks after her father's death (Kelly, p. 2). The best one, however, was that engineered by the old French king Louis VI. He arranged to have Eleanor married to his son Louis. He pulled it off just in time; Louis VI promptly died, and by the time the younger Louis and his new bride entered Paris, he was King Louis VII and she was his queen (Owen, p. 14; Kelly, p. 8).
The marriage, however, was not a success. Although both were young, they were very different. Eleanor was vivacious, intelligent, and a natural schemer. Louis -- who had been intended for the church until his older brother died (Kelly, p. 3) -- was neither clever nor lively; the most that can be said for him was that he was pious -- and even that was intermittent; he was much too easily angered, and occasionally involved in conflicts with the church (Owen, p. 20). Eleanor, according to Markale, p. 19, introduced daring fashions to Paris, as well as a number of rather frivolous games -- one of which was promptly banned as too risque. Louis the Boring can hardly have been pleased. (Many accounts report that Eleanor once said she had married a monk, not a man; Markale, p. 27, 33, etc.).
Even so, the marriage might have limped along had Eleanor borne Louis a son -- and had it not been for the Second Crusade.
The First Crusade had resulted in the creation of four Crusader States, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the County of Edessa. The latter three ran along the Mediterranean coast, with Antioch in the north, Tripoli in the middle, and Jerusalem in the south. The three states were entirely independent and weren't always friendly, but they were mutually supporting, especially when they had naval help. Not Edessa. The frontier of the Crusader States, it jutted off northeast from Antioch, with no contact with the other two Crusader States and with Moslem emirates on three sides (see map on p. 109 of Runciman or on p. 301 of Oldenbourg).
In 1144, Zengi, the first great leader of the Islamic counterattack on the Crusader States, besieged Edessa. There were few defenders; its count, Joscelin II of Courtenay, had stripped the walls to build up a field army (Runciman, p. 235). The Byzantines refused to help; so did the people of Antioch. A force from Jerusalem came too late. On December 26, 1144, Edessa fell after a month-long siege. The Islamic reconquest had begun (Oldenbourg, p. 320).
Western Europe had never really supported the Crusader States properly (Runciman, p. 249). To build a strong state, a large number of colonists was needed -- and never came. (Even those who went on the First Crusade had mostly died along the way or been killed by the Turks.) Nor were many knights willing to make the long trip to Palestine to serve for a year or two. Outremer as constituted was sure to fall as soon as a strong enemy developed. But the loss of Edessa shook the Europeans out of their lethargy. The Second Crusade came about when a number of European leaders decided to take the cross and try to retake Edessa.
It should have been a brilliant chance. Zengi was murdered a year and a half after the capture (Runciman, p. 239), and his lands divided between his sons -- the elder had Mosul, the younger Aleppo (Oldenbourg, pp. 321-322). Nur-ed-Din, the new ruler of Aleppo, was to cause the Franks more trouble than ever Zengi did -- but first he had to consolidate his power. Had the Crusaders moved effectively, they might have kept him from amounting to much.
But the Crusaders did not move effectively. A premature counterattack on Edessa made by the locals resulted in the remaining Christians being expelled from the city (Runciman, pp. 239-240). German crusaders under the Emperor Conrad were defeated and dispersed by the Turks (Oldenbourg, pp. 326-327). A portion of the French crusading force arrived safely in Palestine, but, not knowing the local conditions, was talked into attacking the Kingdom of Damascus (Oldenbourg, pp. 330-332). This was a bad move, because Damascus was independent of Nur-ed-Din; the attack -- which failed -- merely softened up a potential ally so that it later fell to the Zengids (Oldenbourg, pp. 332-334).
And the whole fiasco had torn the marriage of Louis and Eleanor to shreds. Eleanor and Louis had gone on the crusade together (Runciman, p. 262), although we don't know whether she talked him into it or he demanded it -- perhaps she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather William IX, who had gone on the First Crusade (Markale, p. 15); perhaps Louis didn't want to be parted from her (Markale, p. 25); perhaps he didn't trust her (Owen, p. 22); perhaps he thought her presence would make more of her subordinates serve in the Crusade (Markale, p. 26); perhaps it was just that she had extreme influence over him (Fawtier, p. 27, although the sequel seems to demonstrate that this was not true).
Eleanor didn't like the Crusade much, as it turned out -- and, along the way, there were rumors that she had had an affair with her uncle, Raymond, Prince of Antioch. (Markale, p. 17, suggested that Eleanor and Raymond, her father's younger brother who had formerly been known as Raymond of Poitiers, may even have had a relationship before he set out to claim the Principality of Antioch. They may have been friendly, but Eleanor was probably too young for a physical relationship -- and even the gossips apparently said that *she*, not he, declared against pursuing it farther, since they obviously could not marry.)
Probably the best chronicle for Outremer in this era is that of William of Tyre. He explicitly accuses Eleanor of infidelity (Meade, p. 106; Owen, p. 105). But he was writing twenty-odd years after the fact, and not of his own knowledge (Kelly, p. 62, argues that his data came from French royal sources, i.e. Eleanor's enemies) -- and, like many churchmen, he may have had a prejudice against women. William's statements do seem to prove that, by his time, Eleanor's reputation in Outremer was very bad (ironic, in that she was the mother of Richard I, and that it was her husband, not she, who decided against the assault on Aleppo).
We don't really know what happened in Antioch. Oldenbourg, p. 328, says, "There has been a good deal of argument about the nature of Eleanor of Aquitaine's relations with her uncle. Raymond, although he was getting on for fifty [most sources, such as Kelly, p. 30, say that he was only eight years older than Eleanor, which would make him about 34 in 1148], must still have been a handsome man and was certainly more attractive than the dull, morose Louis. On the other hand, the Prince of Antioch was reputed to be a most faithful husband, and considering that he had not shown much interest in amorous exploits so far, it seems hard to believe that he should have tried to seduce his own niece. Whatever the truth of the matter, by explaining to the Queen the advantages of a campaign against Aleppo, Raymond of Poitiers drew on himself the jealousy of the King."
It probably didn't help that Eleanor and Raymond doubtless conversed in their native Provencal rather than French (Kelly, p. 56).
Similarly Runciman, p. 279, "In the end, a purely personal motive made up the King's mind for him [to go to Jerusalem instead of attacking Aleppo at once]. Queen Eleanor was far more intelligent than her husband. She saw at once the wisdom of Raymond's scheme; but her passionate and outspoken support of her uncle only aroused Louis's jealousy. Tongues began to wag. The Queen and the Prince were seen too often together. It was whispered that Raymond's affection was more than avuncular. Louis, alarmed for his honour, announced his immediate departure; whereat the Queen declared that she would remain in Antioch, and would seek a divorce from her husband. In reply Louis dragged his wife by force from her uncle's palace and set out with all his troops for Jerusalem." The attack on Damascus would follow.
As Meade says on p. 107, "One would get the impression from these happenings that logic played little part [in Louis's decisions]. The situation was even more absurd, for underneath the welter of all the bickering and political maneuvering hid the real reason for Louis's inexplicable decision: the familiar emotion of jealousy. Put at its simplest, the king suspected that Eleanor had taken the prince as her lover."
There is at least one problem with Louis's hypothesis: according to Markale, p. 29, Eleanor and Louis spent only ten days in Antioch. Hard to have much of a relationship in a week and a half! And Raymond really does seem to have believed in moderation in all things; not only did he not fool around, he was highly unusual among noblemen of the time that he didn't even drink much (Kelly, p. 54).
Markale, p. 30, claims that Eleanor declared that not only would she stay in Antioch, but she would withhold her vassals from the Crusade to use them against Aleppo. This would explain Louis's reaction, since withholding her forces would badly weaken the already depleted Crusading army. But I see no hint of this in the other writers.
Markale declares on pp. 25-26 that "these rumors show that Eleanor was not greatly liked by a certain part of the clerical establishment -- or, at the very least, her attitude offended the right-minded, who are always predisposed to feel proper. In fact, there is no reason to suspect that that Eleanor was fickle or untrue to the king before the expedition to the East." The French writers may have been particularly predisposed against her because there was a history of conflict between the Church and the House of Aquitaine (Kelly, p. 19).
This was going on in 1147-1148, when William the Marshal was probably a babe in arms and the future Henry II was just entering his teens.
All sources seem to agree that Louis and Eleanor's marriage never recovered, despite an attempt by the Pope to intervene (Owen, p. 28) which was successful enough that Eleanor bore a second daughter in 1150 (Markale, p. 33; McLynn, p. 9, suggests that the Pope told Eleanor that he sided with Louis in the matter of the divorce, which caused her to temporarily yield again to Louis). But the two left the Crusader States in separate ships (Markale, p. 32). Louis may still have loved her, in his clumsy way (Owen, p. 29), but they clearly didn't understand each other.
Ordinarily, the solution to the royal couple's marital problems would have been to shove Eleanor in a nunnery, or perhaps keep her under guard (as Henry II was later to do). There was just one problem: Louis had no successor. Eleanor had given him two daughters, one before and one after the crusade (Owen, p. 29), but no son. He needed an heir (Warren-Henry, p. 44), and while France had not yet invented the Salic Law, it was clear that no one was prepared to have a daughter succeed. Louis had either to father a son by Eleanor, or have the marriage ended so that he could have a son by some other wife. And, obviously, whichever he did, it would be easier to do it with Eleanor's cooperation.
Kings rarely had trouble obtaining divorces at this time, and Louis and Eleanor could claim consanguinity as grounds. The problem with divorce was that it would force Louis to give up Eleanor's lands. (To be sure, Fawtier, p. 24, says that Louis hadn't been able to control Aquitaine anyway, so it was no loss. But if Eleanor's next husband had a son, then Aquitaine would go to him, rather than Louis's daughters by Eleanor; Warren-Henry, p. 44). Louis had no good choices. After much delay, he finally decided on divorce. In this he was probably encouraged by the famous Bernard of Clairvaux, Louis's famous (and famously sanctimonious) clerical advisor, who earlier had gone after Peter Abelard and who strongly disapproved of Eleanor (Kelly, p. 79).
It was about this time that Count Geoffrey of Anjou and his son Henry visited the Parisian court. Nominally vassals of King Louis, Geoffrey (like many French vassals) was effectively independent, so this was rather unusual. Gerald of Wales, who did not like Eleanor, claims she took Geoffrey into her bed (Owen, p. 30), even though Geoffrey's wife Matilda, the mother of Henry, was still alive. (It is interesting to note that both Geoffrey the father and Henry the son had wives who were much older than they -- and both quarrelled violently with those wives, but never divorced them.)
The idea of sleeping with the Queen certainly fits Geoffrey's character; he was known as a seducer. This is likely to be another canard; the sources are suspect (Kelly, p. 77). But it would beLittle wonder if Eleanor found the Angevins -- the strongest French rivals to Louis -- attractive. It was not yet clear that Henry would become King of England, but just the combination of Anjou and Maine (Geoffrey and Henry's inheritance), Normandy (conquered by Geoffrey), and Aquitaine would be plenty to cause trouble in France. This is why Harvey, p. 49, calls the annulment "a step of inconceivable folly" by Louis. But he surely did not realize who would be Eleanor's next husband....
As soon as Eleanor obtained her divorce, people again started trying to kidnap her into marriage (Owen, p. 31; Markale, pp. 36-37; Warren-Henry, p. 45, and Dahmus, p. 142, say one of those trying to capture her was none other than Henry Plantagenet's younger brother Geoffrey); clearly she needed a husband, if only to get them off her back. So she promptly married Henry, even though he was about eleven years younger -- and a close enough relative that Henry had been barred from marrying Eleanor's daughter! (Kelly, p. 82). Romanticists claim they fell in love at first sight (McLynn, p. 9), which seems unlikely. But they certainly saw advantages to combining their forces (Kelly, p. 77). And, if nothing else, Henry was a lot smarter and more interesting than Louis (Markale, p. 39).
The marriage took place in May 1152, eight weeks after the divorce, even though King Louis -- whose ward Eleanor theoretically still was -- had not approved (Owen, p. 32; Fawtier, pp. 139-140). The French were angered by the haste of the marriage -- although, in years to come, Louis VII would marry his third wife only five weeks after his second died (Fawtier, p. 51), and at a time when he should have still been in mourning (McLynn, p. 10).
Many think the marriage had been arranged even before Eleanor's marriage to Louis was dissolved (Markale, p. 85), although there is no direct evidence for this. It was a gamble for Henry, in that he, like Louis, needed a son from her -- but what she could not do for Louis, Eleanor did repeatedly for Henry; they had five sons, four of whom (Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John) lived to adulthood.
In early 1153, having mostly pacified his continental domains, Henry invaded England (Warren-Henry, p. 49), to which he was proper heir (his mother Matilda had been the only surviving son of King Henry I. King Stephen, a younger son of Henry I's sister Adela, had gained the throne because no one wanted a female monarch). Late in 1153, after Stephen's oldest son Eustace died (Warren-Henry, p. 51), it was agreed that Henry would be adopted as Stephen's heir. In late 1154, Stephen died, and on December 19, 1154, the 21-year-old Henry was crowned King of England. Eleanor was crowned Queen at the same time (Warren-Henry, pp. 52-53).
Whereas Louis had kept Eleanor under his eye for almost their entire marriage, Henry II frequently left her behind as he went on his wanderings, at times even giving her some share in the government (Owen, p. 45), although he more often merely left her to sit and do nothing (Owen, p. 49); Warren-Henry, p. 260, says of her role, and that of the Queen Mother Matilda (who also had spells as regent), "their authority seems in practice to have been largely formal."
The fact that Henry so often left her behind would seem to imply that, in the early years of their marriage, he was not concerned about her fidelity, even though he didn't pay much attention to her or her opinions -- and was anything but faithful himself. As McLynn notes on p. 12, she was "almost permanently pregnant," making a high degree of carousing unlikely. To be sure, Henry would later on put her under close guard -- but that was for rebellion, not infidelity; she was by then past childbearing age. The flip side of this is, according to Markale, p. 41, he usually left her in England or Normandy, rather than Aquitaine, meaning that she could not conspire with her own vassals and was not around the people with whom she shared a culture.
The years after about 1160 were difficult for Eleanor. As the conflict between Henry II and Louis VII sharpened, she found herself with hostages to fortune on both sides: Her children by Henry were of course part of the English camp -- but her two daughters by Louis remained in France. (Louis had a similar conflict, in that one of his daughters by his second wife was in English hands, as wife to the future Richard I, but it doesn't seem to have changed his behavior; Owen, p. 49).
It was perhaps in 1166 that Rosamund Clifford first entered Henry's life (Owen, p. 56; Markale, p. 46; McLynn, p. 43, says 1165). Our details of her life are few. Owen, p. 114, suggests she was born c. 1140, but surely she would have been married by age 26; I suspect she was nearly a decade younger. Her father Walter de Clifford lived near the Welsh border; perhapsHenry and Rosamund first saw each other during the Welsh campaign of 1165.
Henry had many mistresses in his life (at least, most authorities claim so, although Warren-Henry, p. 119, says that the evidence is insufficient, noting that his only two properly-documented illegitimate sons were probably conceived before he married Eleanor. Dahmus, p. 154, cautiously declares that Henry "may have been unfaithful to her before John's birth; he surely was afterward"), but the liaison with Rosamund was unusually overt. Gerald of Wales didn't comment on the match until 1174 (Owen, p. 115), but then fulminated that Rosamund should not have been called Rosa-mundi, the Rose of the world, but the Rose of unchastity, Rosa-immundi (Kelly, p. 150).
For all that Kelly and Markale are convinced that Eleanor resented Rosamund, they have no real evidence. Certainly there is no reason to think Eleanor acted on such feelings. Kelly, p. 153, observed that whatever vengeance Eleanor took was aimed at Henry, not Rosamund, and suggests that this was her reason for taking part in the rebellion of 1173. And Kelly admits on p. 152 that "[t]he story of the Queen's proffer of the dagger and the poison bowl must... be discarded," and that there was no maze in which Rosamund was hidden (cf. Markale, p. 47). Warren-Henry, p. 119, says that "Nothing, indeed, can be recovered for certain about Henry's relations with his wife until their obvious estrangement in 1173"; he argues that Eleanor would not have resented Rosamund because taking mistresses was so common at the time.
The maze at Woodstock was first mentioned in a 1378 translation and expansion of Gerald of Wales (Owen, p. 116) and elaborated in Fabyan's Chronicle of c. 1500 (Owen, p. 118 -- we note that Fabyan wasn't very accurate even for Fabyan's own time, let alone centuries earlier), while the bit about the dagger and poison comes from a fourteenth century London chronicle -- which, however, was so confused that it referred the whole affair to the reign of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence and dates it to 1262, more than half a century after the death of Eleanor of Aquitaine! (Owen, pp. 116-117).
We do note the interesting coincidence is that Chretien de Troyes, at about this time, was writing his Cliges, an Arthurian tale involving a woman in a labyrinth (Owen, p. 119) -- but he probably got this from Greek myth and later people applied ot to Rosamund.
Rosamund went on to become extremely famous; Owen devotes pp. 121-148 to literary works about her, although the only one of these many poems and plays that shows any hint at all of being traditional is the one indexed as "Fair Rosamund." And, zccording to Owen, it was not until the fifteenth century that the song of "Fair Rosamund" was written.
Rosamund died in 1176 or 1177, having gone into a nunnery. Thus Eleanor could not have killed her, since the Queen was a captive at the time (Warren-Henry, p. 119). It is possible that Rosamund took the veil in despair -- because Owen, p. 73, suggests that this was the period when Henry II started paying attention to Alice, the daughter of Louis VII who had been betrothed to Henry's son Richard. Most of what we know about this is gossip -- although Richard eventually rejected Alice as his wife because his father had taken her (Gillingham, p. 160). There isn't even a firm date for this purported liaison; McLynn, p. 91, suggests that the affair did not start until 1180. And Warren-John, p. 37, suggests that Philip Augustus made up the story and passed it on to Richard to make Richard rebel against his father.
Even though Henry and Rosamund were probably linked romantically by the late 1160s, it was not until 1173 that relations between Henry and Eleanor really turned bad. In that year, Henry's three oldest sons turned on him. Owen, pp. 68-69, does not seem to think Eleanor had any part in encouraging the revolt, which began with a quarrel between the Old and Young Kings (no less a source than Dante blamed that on the troubadour Bertrand de Born, whom he placed in the eighth circle of hell as a result. In Dante, Bertrand "set the young king on to mutiny" according to the Ciardi translation of the Inferno -- see canto 28, lines 120-end. McLynn, p. 60, also considers de Born to have been a major influence on Henry the Younger; cf. Kelly, p. 223).
Kelly, p. 150, says that "there was something very special about the famous case of Rosamund Clifford that deeply aroused the Plantagenet queen," and thinks this explains her revolt But McLynn points out on p. 43, Eleanor and Henry had married largely for political purposes; Eleanor must have known that it was likely that he would have affairs. McLynn, p. 44, suggests that Eleanor feared Aquitaine being absorbed into the Angevin Empire. This doesn't wash either, however, since Eleanor worked hard, in the reigns of Richard and John, to hold the Empire together.
If Henry the Younger rebelled on his own, Gillingham, p. 64, is of the clear opinion that Eleanor encouraged the rebellion of at least Richard the second son and Geoffrey the third. This seems to be the consensus view; it is supported, e.g., by Markale, p. 48, and McLynn, pp. 40-41 (although he admits that Geoffrey was slippery enough to take any chance he could find to assert his own power). Warren-Henry, p. 119, says that no one at the time could understand Eleanor's part in the rebellion, and very tentatively suggests on p. 121 that it was because she had been so completely blocked from power. If so, then it makes sense that she might have encouraged her sons.
Eleanor's decision to rebel along with her sons Henry the Young King, Richard, and Geoffrey had the peculiar effect of causing Eleanor to side with her ex-husband Louis against her current husband! (Warren-John, p. 29). But Henry II prevailed, and Eleanor, realizing the rebellion had failed, and supposedly fled Aquitaine dressed as a man (Markale p. 51; Kelly, p. 183). The disguise failed; she was quickly captured.
It is interesting to note that Henry made terms with his sons, who remained free and even were given some additional money (Dahmus, p. 183), but punished Eleanor by putting her in confinement (Owen, p. 69). She would stay under close guard for about a decade, until after the death of the Young King in 1183 (Owen, pp. 71-72), although we know almost nothing else about her condition in this time. Owen, p. 72, notes that she was not even permitted to attend the funeral of her son.
Markale, p. 52, and Kelly, pp. 189-190, claim that Henry considered trying to get a divorce, presumably on the basis of consanguinity (plus treason). Kelly, p. 192, also suggests that Eleanor might have been forced into a monastery, with or without a divorce -- an idea which clearly had no appeal to her. But Henry's situation in 1173 was unlike Louis's two decades earlier: He had plenty of sons -- if anything, too many, given their rebellious tendencies. No need to lose Aquitaine. What he might have done had Eleanor been childless, or not Duchess of Aquitaine, is anyone's guess -- but irrelevant. Kelly on p. 192 suggests that Henry wanted the divorce so that he could marry Alice of France -- but the chronology of this doesn't work well, since Alice was only about 13 in 1173, and by the time she and Henry were really involved (if they were), Henry seems to have settled down to keeping Eleanor as his wife, but imprisoned.
What is clear is that, in such close imprisonment, Eleanor could not have killed Rosamund, nor even arranged for the killing even if someone had been foolish enough to commit murder on her behalf.
Not everyone was happy about her treatment. Provencals wrote what, if the translation does not mask too much, was probably quite beautiful poetry about her fate (paraphrased from Owen, p. 72, and Meade, p. 279):
Where is the living she once enjoyed to the music of flute and drum?
Where is her court? Where is her family?
Captive of the King of the North Wind,
She lies, overcome by sorrow.
But let her not despair.
Return, O captive, if you can....
After the Young King's death, Eleanor was given slightly better treatment, although still carefully watched (Owen, p. 74; Markale, p. 54, thinks this was just Henry using her again because of succession issues involving Richard and Aquitaine). Her movements were still restricted -- e.g. when her third son, Geoffrey, was killed in a tournament accident, she was again denied the right to attend the funeral (Owen, p. 76). McLynn, p. 118, suggests she was again closely confined in 1188, when Henry II and Prince Richard had their final quarrel, but the evidence for this is weak.
Then Henry II died in 1189, cursing his sons for betraying him (Owen, pp. 78-79). Eleanor soon faced a new sorrow when her daughter Matilda died -- but she also regained her freedom when her favorite son Richard became king. (According to Kelly, pp. 248-249, it was none other than William the Marshal who was sent to free her -- but she had already been released by the time he reached her. And we should note that Richard promptly married the Marshal to the heiress of Gloucester, making him an earl for the first time. The Gloucester heiress was reportedly young and quite beautiful, and I know of no evidence that Marshal was unfaithful.)
Eleanor was not only free, she was now a power in the land; she probably helped arrange Richard's marriage (Owen, p. 82), and helped run the kingdom while he was on crusade (Markale, p. 56, calls her the "true mistress of England" -- but this seems unlikely just because Richard wouldn't want to rely too much on a woman in her sixties who might die at any moment). She seems to have been instrumental in controlling the rebellion of Richard's brother John (Owen, p. 86). She may have cut back her involvement in affairs when Richard came home -- but only briefly. In 1199, Richard I died, a victim of his own combative instincts (he was besieging a castle, and went too close to the walls, and was hit by an arrow) and poor medical practice (Owen, p. 92).
Richard had never declared whether John, Henry and Eleanor's last son, or Arthur, the young son of Henry and Eleanor's third son Geoffrey, should succeed. Arthur had stronger hereditary right, but that did not mean much then (of the last seven English kings, Harold II, William I, William II, Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, at least five had not had hereditary right). And Arthur was still a boy, and under French influence anyway. Different parts of the Angevin Empire chose different kings (Warren-John, p. 51). Eleanor was influential in gaining support for John over Arthur in Aquitaine and elsewhere (Owen, p. 94). Interestingly, William Marshal also helped tilt things John's way (Warren-John, p. 49). In the end, however, John had to make some concessions to Philip of France. They looked minor, but they were an omen of things to come (Warren-John, p. 55).
Markale, pp. 68-69, suggests that Eleanor decided to back John because she thought she could control his bad behavior. This makes no sense. Eleanor was by this time in her late seventies; John was 32 -- and had no children. She could not possibly hope to keep control until John's children were old enough to succeed. McLynn, p. 77, makes the even stranger claim that Eleanor "despised John," which makes it hard to believe that she would have supported his succession (McLynn can only justify this on the grounds that Eleanor hated Arthur more -- blaming her hatred on the trivial fact that the boy's mother Constance had named her son Arthur; McLynn, p. 90). John was to prove a disastrous king -- but at least some of that was due to the fragile situation left him by Richard; Arthur would likely have been as bad or worse.
1199 was a sad year for the dowager queen; her youngest daughter Joanna (born 1165) died shortly after Richard (Owen, p. 96). Eleanor was left with only two living children, Eleanor (born 1161, and by this time Queen of Castile) and John; the latter two would outlive their mother. But even now, at the age at least 74 and probably 77, she continued to do diplomatic work for her children, for example helping to arrange a marriage between her granddaughter Blanche of Castile and the son of King Philip of France (Owen, pp. 96-97). Thus, even though none of Eleanor's children ever sat on the throne of France, her great-grandson did (Markale, p. 47).
Already by 1200 they were calling the new king "John Softsword" (Warren-John, pp. 56-57). Warren argues that the Angevin military machine was best suited to defence, not offence. But John, with an economy battered by Richard's constant need for funds, couldn't even defend very well. Richard had survived partly because Henry II had left him a substantial financial reserve (Warren-John, p. 61) and partly by selling every saleable item in England -- and, even so, he had had to make a new Great Seal in 1198 so he could repudiate his debts! (Warren-John, p. 62). John had no bank balance to fall back on, and no offices to sell; to his cost, he simply couldn't conduct operations on the same scale Richard had.
It is interesting to note that John's greatest military success was to save his mother. In 1201, Philip of France attacked Aquitaine and trapped Eleanor at Mirebeau. According to Warren-John, p. 7 1, she was by now bedridden, and certainly too old to make the sort of daring escape she had managed earlier in life. John made a forced march to rescue his mother (Owen, p. 99). In the process, he trapped a number of French soldiers and briefly caused Philip to halt his attacks (Warren-John, p. 79).
It was the last great moment of Eleanor's life. Not even she could not control what came next. One of those captured in the rescue of Mirebeau was Arthur of Brittany, the disappointed claimant to the throne. (Defenders of Arthur should note that he had agreed to attack his own grandmother! -- Markale, p. 73)! If Arthur was anything like his father Geoffrey, the one Plantagenet whom *all* the historians seem to condemn (e.g. McLynn, p. 67, considers him to have combined the traits of his brothers Henry and John: Henry's handsome, convincing exterior and John's sneakiness and untrustworthiness), then he was a genuine threat to the public order.
But if Arthur might have been a lousy king, he was a good symbol. We don't know what happened to him, but he definitely was not seen after 1203 (Owen, p. 100). If John did not kill him, one of his vassals almost certainly did. The Bretons rose up to get their duke back in 1203, and John did not, and probably could not, produce him (Warren-John, p. 81). Warren's guess (Warren-John, pp. 82-83) is that John had personally killed Arthur while in a drunken rage. But exaggeration is easy; Markale, e.g. (p. 74) knows two near-contemporary accounts of Arthur's end (that John ordered him blinded and castrated, and that John killed Arthur himself) -- and makes up enough details to allow both to have happened.
Warren-John, p. 80, considers the elimination of Arthur one of John's biggest mistakes. Mirebeau gave John several advantages -- and threw them away. People in England didn't care much about Arthur, and when, a decade later, the French king tried to bring it up with the Pope, the Pope officially branded Arthur a rebellious vassal and told the French to drop the issue (Warren-John, p. 84). But his death led the Bretons and others to turn firmly against John. And it was too late for Eleanor to rescue her last wayward son.
Owen, p. 101, makes the fascinating comment that, as Eleanor's life faded out, so too did the Angevin Empire. John had held his boundaries in 1201-1203, but in early 1204, the French attacked Normandy. Tthere was very little resistance (Warren-John, pp. 88-89, suggests that Richard I's harsh hand had turned the Normans against the Angevins). Richard I's great defensive work, the Chateau Galliard, fell in March (Warren-John, p. 95), ruining John's plans to recover his losses. The road to Rouen -- the key to Normandy -- lay open, and so did the path to the Norman hinterland. Philip proceeded to capture the towns toward the coast, knowing that if he held western Normandy, John could not support an army sent to reinforce Rouen (Warren-John, p. 97). Rouen itself, surrounded by French outposts, surrendered on June 24 (Fawtier, p. 149). Normandy -- the home of William the Conqueror's dynasty, and the first major region over which Henry II had ruled directly -- was gone.
Even as that was happening, on April 1, 1204 (or perhaps during the night before), Eleanor of Aquitaine died. She was probably between 80 and 84 years old, and had been Duchess of Aquitaine for almost exactly 67 years, and Queen (either Queen of France, or Queen of England, or Dowager Queen) for all but a few months of that time. No English queen -- not even Queen Victoria -- held her title that long..
Eleanor is buried in Fontevrault Abbey, near her husband and son Richard; she may have died there, having finally retired from the world, although this is disputed (Owen, p. 102). It is interesting to note that the effigy on her tomb shows her holding an open book. We don't see many others portrayed that way in this period -- e.g. John's wife Isabella, whose remains are in the same hall, is shown with her hands clasped. Richard I and Henry II, also buried there, hold scepters.
Without her, John seemed to lose whatever effectiveness he had formerly had. Warren-John, p. 99, notes that while even Richard would likely have lost Normandy, he would have been in the thick of the fighting against the French. But "John stayed in England biting his nails." Little wonder the Normans gave in easily. The English did not give up hopes of regaining Normandy until after the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, and continued to claim the duchy until Henry III formally yielded it in 1259 (Fawtier, p. 149), but England was too enfeebled to mount a counterattack.
Personally, I can't help but have mixed but mostly positive feelings about Eleanor. Take away all the late accretions and you have a rich byt sad story. She was frivolous in her youth, and her struggles against her husbands hurt them both -- but she was more sinned against than sinning. She clearly became a stateswoman in her later years, and probably would have been just as good when younger if only anyone had listened to her; she obviously had more brains than Louis at least. She clearly deserved a great deal of respect. But, in a misogynist world, respect is just what she didn't get. To this day, historians can fall victim to this; Harvey, p. 48, comments that "even the lapse of centuries is unable to blur altogether the sharp outlines of her impetuosity."
She certainly attracts lovers of scandal. Two of the biographies cited in this document (Markale and Kelly) strike me as more gossip than anything else, even though Kelly is reasonably well footnoted. I'd also consider McLynn far too willing to accept a possibility as a certainty.
Some of the authors admit the problems of seeing through their sources. Markale, p. 192, says that "the stories of Eleanor could be entitled altogether, 'Adultery Considered as One of the Fine Arts.' The hate and distrust she inspired is not sufficient to explain the number of love affairs attributed to the queen-duchess." He thinks that Eleanor was a woman who wanted freedom and was condemned as a result. Markale adds that the comparisons to the vicious and oversexed Roman empress Messalina (wife of Claudius I) are unfair; "Eleanor's case is entirely different -- and the adulteries she is assumed to have committed are far from proved." On pp. 196-197 he notes that the French in particular had a motivation to smear her, because her divorce from Louis so weakened the French monarchy.
Over the years, stories of Eleanor's infidelity multiplied -- Owen, pp. 104-112, documents how each chronicler seemed to make her blacker than the one before. An early biography of the troubadour Bernard of Ventadour suggests that Eleanor slept with him (Owen, pp. 40-41). Another French singer would accuse her of wanting to leave Louis for Saladin during their quarrel on the Crusade -- yet another absurdity, since Saladin at the time of the second crusade was an unknown youth of probably no older than thirteen and perhaps as young as ten (Meade, p. 106; Kelly, p. 62; Owen, pp. 105-106). Owen, p. 54, mentions a rumor that she was involved with another uncle, Raoul de Faye, in the 1160s -- although she was pregnant at the time.
As McLynn comments on p. 14, "Certainly there was something about Eleanor that could provoke people to hatred. Some described her as a latter-day Messalina while others said that the legend of Melusine [the demonic wife of a Count of Anjou] was a foretelling of her reign."
Much of the second half of Markale is about legends of Eleanor; on p. 194, he derives the stories of Eleanor from the "Adulterous Queen" motif in early Celtic legend, making her part of a fertility cult. Right.
Somehow, no one seems to have noticed these affairs at the time. To be sure, Markale, p. 13, says that Chretien de Troyes used Eleanor as the model for his Guinevere, and hence presumably for Guinevere's affair with Lancelot. But Markale, pp. 79-80, notes that when Eleanor's marriage to Louis was dissolved, the council involved formally refuted the charge of adultery. Although this might have been a political decision -- divorce on the grounds of adultery would have rendered her children illegitimate and would surely have caused her to contest the case.
Shakespeare made her a "cank'red grandam" in Act II, scene I of "King John," but given Shakespeare's record of falsehoods, that may be a compliment.
Moderns have a strong tendency to link Eleanor with the troubadours and the idea of Courtly Love -- which said, in essence, that love couldn't exist in marriage; only unattainable love was real. This is certainly possible -- the troubadours, after all, originated in Aquitaine, and Eleanor's own grandfather was one of the founders of the movement. But Owen, p. 152, points out that the stories of Eleanor managing "Courts of Love" are exaggerated -- the main account is from one Andrew the Chaplain (cited on pp. 153-154 of Owen), and the "cases" Eleanor judges are too conveniently like the Queen's own history to be believable. And if Eleanor encouraged the troubadours, or even composed herself, that doesn't mean she engaged in actual hanky-panky.
Warren-Henry, p. 583, comments that stories of Eleanor presiding over "courts of love" or the like "may have owed something to the flirtatious, romantic young woman who had at one time graced the court of Paris... but owed nothing to the matriarch and hard-headed politician that Eleanor became in later life."
Might Eleanor have slept with the future Earl Marshal? She did show him favor (Owen, p. 57). He helped rescue her from an ambush in 1168 (Kelly, p. 154), and when he was captured (after being stabbed from behind after unhorsing six enemies while himself fighting on foot, according to McLynn, p. 63), she contributed to his ransom. But he spent more time serving Henry II.
Although we don't know his exact age, it is surely relevant. Powicke, p. 17, says he was about 80 when he died in 1219, meaning he was born in 1139 -- but "eighty" is suspiciously round; I strongly suspect it was a chronicler saying simply that he was "very old," based on the Biblical "three score and ten" or even "four score." Plus, in 1189 while guarding Henry II's rearguard from an attack by Prince Richard, the Marshal was still skilled enough to deliberately kill Richard's horse while not injuring the Prince (McLynn, p. 114). This would be tricky for a 50-year-old; a later date for Marshal's birth seems far more likely. Kelly, p. 248, makes him only 35 in 1189 when Henry II died. This would mean he was born in 1153 -- almost impossibly young, since he was able to fight off six men in 1168. The best guess is that William Marshal was born in 1147 (so OxfordCompanion, p. 622), although Owen, p. 57, implies he was a few years older.
If the 1147 date is correct, that makes the Marshal 25 years younger than Eleanor (he would outlive her by 15 years, dying in 1219). Even if we say he was born in 1139 (the earliest possible date) and Eleanor was born in 1125 (the latest possible date), she was 14 years older. Eleanor's oldest child, Marie, was born in 1145 (Owen, p. 20) -- quite possibly before the Marshal was born. Eleanor and Henry had married in 1152, when the Marshal was no more than 13 and probably only about five. Those facts obviously make it impossible for him to have taken her maidenhead. That doesn't make it impossible that he slept with her. But, even granting that Eleanor was considered a great beauty in her day, what are the odds that the Marshal would have wanted to sleep with a woman who was old enough to be his mother?
Marshal was only a younger son of a minor nobleman; he did not become an earl until 1189, after Henry II died, when Richard I allowed him to marry Isabella, the heiress of Pembroke (OxfordCompanion, p. 622). (Thus his proper title was "Earl of Pembroke," not "Earl Marshal." But everyone seems to have called him the "Earl Marshal"). But Henry II never knew him by that title.
I note that the Marshal fell out of favor with King John soon after Eleanor died, not to be restored until near the end of the reign. But the reason did not involve Eleanor: Marshal had conceded the loss of Normandy and done homage to the French for his estates there (Warren-John, pp. 114-115).
Although he was first famous as a fighter, Marshal also was noted as an honorable man, and came to be regarded as wise. When King John died in 1216 and someone was needed to govern the country during the minority of Henry III, the Marshal was not only given the job, he was given unusual powers: "The wish of those gathered together at Gloucester was that the old earl marshal should assume the responsibility for the protection of Henry and his kingdom. The marshal was reluctant.... [After a second request backed by Earl Ranulf of Chester, who arrived late], the marshal agreed. In the words of his biographer, he was given the baillie of the kingdom.... The marshal became rector of king and kingdom. He is so styled a few days later in the first reissue of [the Magna Carta]" (Powicke, p. 2).
The Marshal drove the invading French out of England, mostly by capturing the fortresses of Kent and the southeast and so cutting their communications with France (Powicke, pp. 9-10) and then winning a battle at Lincoln (Powicke, pp. 11-12), causing many of the rebellious English barons to return to their allegiance. The English paid a fairly big monetary settlement to speed the French on their way (Powicke, p. 14). Would the barons have trusted Marshal with their money if he were scandal-tainted?
The Marshal died in 1219, and as he lay dying, he consulted a number of spiritual advisors. He was worried about the wealth he gained at tournaments. He said farewell to his wife and daughters. He called upon the Papal legate Pandulf to help govern the kingdom until the young Henry III reached his majority. He made other arrangements (Powicke, p. 17). If he said anything at all about Eleanor, the record does not survive.
It is well-known that John was Henry II's favorite of his four sons (e.g. McLynn, pp. 76-77). But he was the baby of the family, born in 1166 (so Kelly, p. 103; Markale, p. 44; McLynn, p. 26; Owen, p. 55) or perhaps 1167 (so some chronicles). Since Eleanor and Henry were together relatively rarely in the 1160s, John was the obvious candidate for the cuckoo's egg. Would he have been Henry's favorite had there been any possibility he was illegitimate?
(Note that, while John was not as tall and splendid as his older brothers, he certainly had Angevin traits such as violent rages. McLynn, p. 94, describes what sounds like an obsessive-compulsive tendency toward biting his fingers when enraged which John shared with Henry II.)
Before you ask -- as far as I know, no DNA testing has been applied.
Bottom line: Although it is possible that Eleanor of Aquitaine had extramarital affairs (possible, but beyond proof), we have no evidence of it. (If you want my personal opinion -- I don't think she did. Yes, Eleanor schemed, and yes, she tried to manage her husbands, without success, and her sons, with better success. That doesn't make her a philanderer. Women are generally not as tempted to sleep around as men -- and the risk for them was higher.) And if she did sleep around, it probably wasn't with the Marshal.
Of course, it doesn't matter what she actually did -- what matters is what the person who wrote this ballad *thought* she did.
I have to mention another possibility, having to do with Courtly Love. The quasi-official doctrine of this movement was that "One cannot love one's own wife but must love the wife of some other man" (Wagenknecht, p. 243). Could this song be a send-up of the Courtly Love notion which somehow survived? The obvious difficulty being that this would require a very long survival of a song that would likely have originally been French. I don't really consider it likely.
Still, the chronology makes it certain that, if "Queen Eleanor's Confession" is based on actual fact, then Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine cannot possibly be the monarchs involved. Are there other possibilities to explain the song?
If one moves the story to the time of Henry III (reigned 1216-1272), who married Eleanor of Provence, we should note that by the time the third Henry grew up, the Marshal line was extinct. And adter that, there are no instances of a King Henry marrying an Eleanor. (I do note, however, that Margaret of Anjou the wife of Henry VI was widely believed to have had an affair with a member of her court.)
It does occur to me, however, that there is a just-barely-possible explanation for this song, which actually fits the twelfth century, except that it does not invove King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Henry and Eleanor's eldest son was Henry "the Young King" (so-called because he was crowned as his father's successor while Henry II was still alive; Ashley, p. 522). Henry the Younger was married to Margaret, a daughter of French King Louis VII by one of his later wives (Ashley, p. 522).
What makes it interesting is that Gillingham reports (p. 89) that in the 1180s -- shortly before the death of Henry the Young King -- there were rumors that William the Marshal (not yet an earl) was the lover of Margaret the wife of Henry the Younger. And Margaret, although she had no power at all (Henry the Young King had very little, and he didn't share what she had), had been officially crowned as his Queen.
Henry had probably been jealous of Marshal even before that, since Marshal had a much stronger reputation as a fighter, and also was considered better surety for debts (McLynn, p. 64). When even his wife seemed to be showing a liking for Marshal (although there is no hint that it was sexual), the Young King dismissed Marshal from his entourage (McLynn, p. 65). But Henry "could neither put a stop to the gossip nor put William on trial" (Gillingham, p. 89). As Warren-Henry puts it on p. 582, "Henry the Younger, refusing either to disbelieve the charges or to allow William to prove them false, deprived himself of the one man who could perhaps have dissuaded him from the ultimate foolishness of his behavior in 1182-1183."
Marshal, incidentally, offered to take on any three accusers (one at a time, of course), in a trial by ordeal to prove his innocence (Kelly, pp. 209-210). Because Marshal was such a noteworthy warrior, no one dared take up the challenge. And not even Henry the elder seemed to take the gossip seriously; when the younger Henry died, he gave Margaret a pension (Warren-Henry, p. 609).
Thus, if we replace Henry II with Henry the Young King, the Earl Marshal with William the Marshal who would later be earl, and Queen Eleanor with Queen Margaret, this song becomes possible.
Apart from the pesky detail that Margaret outlived the Young King, anyway. And that Marshal was given his earldom by Richard I after both Henry the elder and Henry the younger were dead (Gillingham, p. 125).
Henry the Younger was eventually reconciled with Marshal. According to McLynn, p. 73, in the 1183 conflict between the Old King and his sons, the man who had accused Marshal of adultery concluded that Henry II would win their conflict, and fled the Young King's entourage. That caused the Young King to decide Marshal was innocent -- although it hardly mattered at that point, since the Young King died so soon after.
In any case, Owen, p. 161, says that for most of the Eleanor stories, "history has been the starting point for legendary development. With 'Queen Eleanor's Confession' the process has been reversed. There a popular tale had brought to the mind of some balladeer memories of the English queen as he understood her to have been; and he amused himself and us by casting her in the ready-made role he found there. Her 'confessions' are, of course, part of her legend; but the frame-story is from another, independent tradition." On p. 160 he notes that the theme of a husband hearing his wife's confession are found in a French fabliau and in Boccaccio. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C156

Queen Jane


See The Death of Queen Jane [Child 170] (File: C170)

Queen Jane (II)


See The King's Dochter Lady Jean [Child 52] (File: C052)

Queen Jean


See The Death of Queen Jane [Child 170] (File: C170)

Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament)


DESCRIPTION: The girl (perhaps "Queen Mary") is of an age to be courting but has no suitors. She dresses well, and goes out when she can, but finds no takers. Her mother laments the girl's fate, as does the girl herself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 ("Girls' Game, from the Banks of Forth" in _Scottish Notes and Queries_, quoted by GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting playparty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),(Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1373, "Nae Bonnie Laddie Will Tak Me Awa" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan8 1605, "Queen Mary" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 62, "The Scotch Lassie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 46, "The New Dress" (1 fragment, which appears to be this but might be "Nae Bonnie Laddie...")
DT, QUENMARY
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; note to #389, ("Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen") (1 short text)
Roud #6281
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)" (theme, lyrics)
NOTES: The relationship between this piece and "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)" is extremely vexed -- to the extent that it is impossible to tell which fragments go with which song. Frankly, I'd probably lump them if Roud didn't split them (and then, seemingly, mis-file some of the versions -- aided and abetted by Ford, who had two songs of this type). As a starting point, playparties and courting games go with this piece; full-fledged songs with the other. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH230

Queen Mary's Men (New Year's Eve Carol)


DESCRIPTION: "This is good New Year's Even-night, We are all Queen Mary's men, And we've come here to claim our right, And that's before Our Lady." The singers travel the town asking for gifts of food. The offer good wishes for the residents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: food carol
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan3 641, "We Are A' Queen Mary's Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 200, "Queen Mary's Men" (1 text)
DT, MARYMEN
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 167-169, ("This night it is guid New'r E'en's night")
Roud #4584
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Besuthian" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Orkney New Year's Eve Carol
NOTES: This song seems to be known mostly in the north of Scotland, where Catholicism held on long after the Reformation, so the refernce to "Our Lady" probably does not indicate an early date.
The reference to "Queen Mary" is not very helpful in dating. Counting backward, queens of Britain named Mary were:
Mary of Teck, wife of George V (1867-1953)
Mary II Stewart, wife of William III (joing monarchy; reigned 1689-1694; born 1662)
Mary of Modena, second wife of James II (1658-1718); if she were meant, this would be an overtly political song, which seems unlikely
Queens Mary of England after 1400 were:
Mary I, queen regnant 1553-1558 (1516-1558)
Queens Mary of Scotland after 1500 were:
Mary Stuart, queen regnant 1542-1567 (1542-1587)
Mary of Guise, wife of James V and mother of Mary Stuart (1515-1560)
Mary of Gueldres, wife of James II (died 1463)
All of these save Mary II were Catholic (well, I'm not sure about Mary of Teck, but she's presumably too late, since she became queen in the year Greig/Duncan collected the song), but few of them are convincing candidates for the Queen Mary of the song. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: MSNR200

Queen of Elfan's Nourice, The [Child 40]


DESCRIPTION: The Queen of Elfland awakens to hear her child's (wet)-nurse weeping. The Queen of Elfland asks the reason; the nurse says that she is crying for her own son. The Queen of Elfland sets the nurse on the right road home (and on to heaven).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1802/3 (Skene ms.)
KEYWORDS: separation children magic abduction
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Child 40, "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's (#1)}
Bronson 40, "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" (1 version)
GreigDuncan2 328, "The Queen o' Elfin's Nourice" (2 fragments, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #1}
OBB 7, "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice" (1 text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 136, "(I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low)" (1 fragment of two stanzas, with no plot; it simply mentions the lowing cow, and might be an independent item grafted into the Child ballad)
DT 40, ELFANURS*
ADDITIONAL: Emily Lyle, _Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition_, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, pp, 142-145, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune with variant forms)
Roud #3723
NOTES: Tradition has it that fairies much preferred to have human women nurse their babies; hence the legends about changelings and also odd stories such as this one about a human woman being kidnapped to Elfland For discussion of this see Emily Lyle, Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, p. 128
Lyle discusses this ballad in particular on pp. 140-148. On pp. 140-141, she observes that Bronson's discussion of his one tune is not entirely accurate, because he did not have full details of how it was collected. See now Lyle's account for the correct history.
Lyle also suggests (p. 145) that the last ten lines of the text in the Skene manuscript (Child's sole text) do not belong with this ballad but come from "Tam Lin" [Child 39]. Child thinks they are from "Thomas Rymer" [Child 37]. Certainly they are inessential, as they discuss the roads to heaven and hell, whereas presumably the Queen of Elfland could simply set the nurse on the direct path and not reveal these secrets. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C040

Queen of Hearts


DESCRIPTION: "To the Queen of Hearts goes the Ace of sorrow... Young men are plenty but sweethearts few; If my love leaves me, what shall I do?" The singer talks of her wealth and family, "But I'll leave them all to go with you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love courting family travel
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 153, "Queen of Hearts" (1 text)
DT, QUNHEART*
Roud #3195
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:105, "The Wheel of Fortune," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C [extremely mixed, with the "Wheel of Fortune" verse, a thyme stanza, a bit of "Fair and Tender Ladies," a "Queen of Heart" verse, and more]
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Know My Love"
File: FSWB153

Queen of Scotland, The [Child 301]


DESCRIPTION: The Queen tries to seduce Troy Muir; he denies her. To punish him, she has him lift up a certain stone under which a serpent waits. A passing girl draws off the snake by cutting off her breast. Troy Muir marries her. Her breast regrows to suckle their son
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: seduction rejection trick animal injury rescue marriage childbirth royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 301, "The Queen of Scotland" (1 text)
Roud #3878
File: C301

Queen of the Desperadoes


DESCRIPTION: "She was a two-gun woman, Belle Shirley was her name." Belle marries Jim Reed who was killed by "Morris." She then marries Mr. Starr and "moved to Younger's Bend." Her six other husbands and her dominance over them are briefly described.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love marriage death
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 97, "Queen of the Desperadoes" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #11090
File: FCW097

Queen of the May


DESCRIPTION: As summer comes, the singer (a plowboy?) meets a girl. He asks what she is doing; she answers that she is gathering may. They sit down together; the end result may be marriage or something less honorable
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1832 (Journal from the Bengal)
KEYWORDS: courting love sex marriage
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 190-192, "Queen of the May" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, QUEENMAY*
Roud #594
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Bushes" [Laws P2] (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Now the Winter Is Past
The Plowboy's Courtship
NOTES: This reminds me a lot of "Green Bushes" (Laws P2). The imagery is largely the same, and there are reminiscences in the wording. But the end results are different. - RBW
File: SWMS190

Queen Victoria's Welcome to Deeside


DESCRIPTION: "Ye hills and ye mountains surrounding Balmoral, ye groves and ye valleys, ye surely can tell." "The eighth of September will ne'er be forgotten... We ran and we jumpit... to welcome the Queen." Victoria and Albert's visit are toasted
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: home royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 8, 1848 - Queen Victoria takes possession of Balmoral Castle
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan1 139, "Queen Victoria's Welcome to Deeside" (1 text)
Ord, p. 337, "Queen Victoria's Welcome to Deeside" (1 text)
Roud #5605
NOTES: The details in the song are not really enough to date it (no real indication of place; a date on the eighth of September, but no year), but it does mention "the Queen and her consort and three bonnie bairnies," as well as mentioning that the queen's husband in Albert. Thus Queen Victoria (1819-1901; reigned 1837-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-1861) are clearly indicated.
There is one minor curiosity in the song. Balmoral had been tenanted by Sir Robert Gordon until 1847, when that worthy died unexpectedly. Victoria and Albert then leased the house. They in fact first arrived on September 8, 1848. But the song mentions only three children; by 1848, Victoria had no fewer than six: Victoria (future Empress of Germany), Edward (future Edward VII), Alice, Alfred, Helena, and Louise, with the oldest, Victoria, still a few months shy of eight years old.
One suspects a political motive to the song. This was the era of the Highland Clearances, and not everyone in northern Scotland was happy with the English monarchy....
There seem to have been a *lot* of songs written about Queen Victoria's visits to Scotland. Broadsides on the theme include:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.74(218), "The Queen's Visit to Scotland" ("The Queen is coming here they say, / To Scotland coming down"), unknown, n.d. but probably published in connection with an 1842 visit; also as Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2781
NLScotland, ABS.10.203.01(128), "The Queen's Welcome to Scotland" [by Andrew Park] ("The queen she is coming, hurra! hurra! / To the land of the thistle, hurra! hurra!"), unknown, n.d.; same broadside as L.C.Fol.74(219b)
There are also broadsides on Victoria's trip to Ireland, plus there is a sort of a parody on these praise ballads, Harding B 14(123), "The Queen's Return from Scotland," J. Paul (London), n.d.; also 2806 c.16(121a), "The Queen's return from Scotland," G. Jacques (Manchester), etc. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord337

Queen's Garden, The


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

Queen's Marie, The


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

Queen's Maries, The


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

Queensland Drover, The


See Queensland Overlanders (File: FaE164)

Queensland Overlanders


DESCRIPTION: The singer reminds the listeners of the well-known life of the Queensland drover. He describes the various men who engage in the profession, and their visits to town. The chorus is a toast: "Tonight we drink the health of every overlander."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: Australia travel work
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 164-165, "The Overlanders" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 114-116, "The Queensland Drover" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 230-233, "The Overlanders" (1 text)
DT, QNSLNDOV
NOTES: The versions of this are sufficiently diverse that I think deliberate rewriting almost certain. But there is no clear data on the relationship between the versions, so I'm lumping them. - RBW
File: FaE164

Queenstown Mourner, The (In the Town of Danville) [Laws H14]


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of his courtship to a fine young girl, stressing his unworthiness and poverty. They are wed even so, but the wife dies suddenly. The ballad stresses its moralistic conclusion that life is short
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (copy of broadside)
KEYWORDS: courting poverty death mourning
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws H14, "The Queenstown Mourner"
Flanders/Brown, pp. 29-33, "In the Township of Danville/The Queenstown Mourner" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT 683, QTNMOURN
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 21, #2 (1972), p, 22, "The Queenston Warning" (1 text, 1 tune, the Sara Cleveland version)
Roud #2195
File: LH14

Queenstown Warning, The


See The Queenstown Mourner (In the Town of Danville) [Laws H14] (File: LH14)

Queer Bungo Rye


See Quare Bungo Rye (File: Log416)

Queer Folk i' the Shaws, The


DESCRIPTION: "I thocht unto mysel' ae day I'd like to see a Race... Sae up I gat, an wash'd mysel', put on my Sunday braws, An' ... started for the Shaws!" He likes the races, but in his ignorance ends up in trouble with the law, and vows not to return again
AUTHOR: Janes Fisher ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: racing horse drink money police prison punishment injury
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 97-99, "The Queer Folk i' the Shaws" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #121, pp. 1-2, "The Queer Folk o' the Shaws" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 237, "The Queer Folk i' the Shaws" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, FOLKSHAW*
Roud #3803
File: FVS097

Queer Folk o' the Shaws, The


See The Queer Folk i' the Shaws (File: FVS097)

Quern-Lilt, The, or, Grinding Song


DESCRIPTION: "The cronach stills the dowie heart, The jurram stills the bairnie, But the music for a hungry wame's The grinding o' the quernie." Though people rejoice in other things, the grain from the quern keeps many fed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: work food nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, p. 245, "The Quern-Lilt, or, Grinding Song" (1 text)
Roud #3938
NOTES: Ord believes that Jamieson produced this as an imitation, or perhaps an improvement, of an actual grinding song. It seems likely enough. I know of no purely traditional collection. - RBW
File: Ord245

Qui Veut Manger du Lievre (Those Who Wish to Eat Some Hare)


DESCRIPTION: French. Game song; "Those who wish to eat some hare / Need only for it run." Players portray hare and hunter. Ch.: "La belle, en vous amant / Perdrai-je mes peines?" "Since you don't love me, why am I wasting my time on you?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (BerryVin)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage nonballad playparty love animal
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada France
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BerryVin, p. 81, "Qui veut manger du lievre (Those Who Wish to Eat Some Hare)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
File: BerV081

Quiet Village Tilting, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells about a "false, fickle maid" he loved in Tilting. But he is hopeful. "My bright hopes though shattered, they might yet revive, And kind fortune bring me a faithful young bride"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1980 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 91, "The Quiet Village Tilting" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe091

Quil O'Quay


See Sir Lionel [Child 18] (File: C018)

Quilty Burning, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh the burning of Quilty, you all know it well; When the barracks took fire Where the peelers did dwell." Everyone scurries to save what can be saved. "This old barracks is no harm to be gone, For many a poor fellow was shoved in there wrong"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: prison fire moniker police
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1920-1921 - The Black and Tan War
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #18471
RECORDINGS:
Mikey Kelleher, "The Quilty Burning" (on IRClare01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cod Liver Oil" (tune) and references there
cf. "The Burning of Rosslea" (subject)
NOTES: Notes to IRClare01: "The incident that gave rise to this song ... took place around 1920, when the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks at Quilty, a fishing village a few miles south of Miltown Malbay, was set alight by the Republicans."
"Peelers" are police. Apparently, the barracks served also as a jail. (For more on "peelers" in general, and the RIC in the context of the Black and Tan War, see "The Rineen Ambush") - BS
File: RcQuiBur

Quitting Time Song


DESCRIPTION: Call and response cornfield holler. "Oh oh oh oh, I won't be here long. Oh oh oh oh, Dark don't catch me here." That's about it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: nonballad work
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 744, "Quitting Time Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Arwhoolie
Hoolie
File: BSoF744

Quo the Man to the Jo


See Four and Twenty Tailors (File: KinBB13)

Quo' the Haddock to the Skate


DESCRIPTION: Disconnected couplets, lines, halflines, names and places. One coherent example: the eel, haddock and skate comment that London is far away so the haddock advises the eel to "crook your tail weel"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonballad nonsense fishing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #22, p. 2, ("Quo' the haddock to the skate"); Greig #24, p. 2, ("The carle sits upo' the sea, A' his can'les on his knee") (2 texts)
GreigDuncan8 1644, "Quo' the Haddock to the Skate" (2 texts)
DT, CARLSEA
Roud #13058
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Herring Loves the Moonlight" (The Dreg Song)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Carle Sits Upon the Sea
NOTES: The two GreigDuncan8 texts are not very similar: 1644A has 37 lines; 1644B has 19; 5 lines are sort of common to both. There is a pattern repeated in 1644A that does not appear in 1644B: the last word(s) of one line begins the next, followed by "and" and alliteration. For example, "Cam' to warn Wullie Tod, Wullie Tod an' Wullie Tey," "Staw the rumples fae ma tyke, Fae ma tyke an' fae ma tum," "Ca' my mither Jerry King, Jerry King and Jerry Couth" and "Rang the bell o' Dousie, Dousie and Dulzie." The result is a strange linking of couplets; for example, "Ye's three an' I's fower; Shaw's the gate tae Aiberdour -- Aiberdour an' Aiberdeen, Cragleith upo' the green, Craigleith and Wullie Fair...." There are additional pairs of lines in 1644A that are close to the pattern. One of those close to the pattern - "Kent ye John Auld; John Auld and Jeelsie" -- is the odd line sort of shared in 1644B: "Kent ye John Young, John Auld?" The other shared lines are the conversation among the haddock, eel and skate. There seem few outright nonsense words. If more texts are found, or someone with the time, knowledge and inclination to review both texts cares to make a detailed analysis, the texts may be split. - BS
This sort of linking of last word of one stanza to the first line of the next is in fact an ancient device; I wonder if some relatively modern poet did not imitate it. In the version of this sung by Cilla Fisher, at least, it is highly effective. For more on this problem, see the notes to "The Herring Loves the Moonlight (The Dreg Song)." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81644

R.F.C.


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you poor distressed people And lend a willing ear to me; Your suffering will soon be ended For now we have the R.F.C." The government is helping the poor and homeless and hungry
AUTHOR: Buddy Preston
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes help political nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 235-236, "R.F.C." (1 text)
NOTES: This probably sounds like a New Deal song, but in fact the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was proposed by Herbert Hoover on December 8, 1931; it was approved by Congress in January 1932 and the RFC opened for business in February.
The RFC, however, was not a relief program as such; rather, it was intended to prop up the banking and insurance system. Its financing ($500 million in government money and authorization to borrow up to $2 billion more), while adequate to keep the financial system working, was not enough to actually stimulate the economy, and it was really a failed half measure.
Still, the RFC was retained until 1957. - RBW
File: ThBa13

Rab Rorison's Bonnet


DESCRIPTION: Rab Robison's bonnet covered his and his wife's head from the rain, was under his knees at church, was waved in the air when he swore, or as a bellows for fire, .... "It wasna the bonnet but the bean that was in it Made the hale parish talk"
AUTHOR: Robert Tannahill (1774-1810)
EARLIEST DATE: c.1838 (Ramsay)
KEYWORDS: clothes nonballad husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1695, "Rab Rorison's Bonnet" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Phillip A Ramsay, The Poetical Works of Robert Tannahill (London, preface 1838), pp. 40-41, "Rab Rorison's Bonnet"
Roud #13037
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3266), "Rab Rorison's Bonnet" ("Ye'll a' hear tell o' Rab Rorison's bonnet"), Stephenson (Gateshead), 1821-1850; also Harding B 17(249a), 2806 c.14(114), "Rab Rorison's Bannet"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Auld Wife o' the Glen" (tune, per Ramsay)
NOTES: Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(13), "Rab Rorison's Bonnet" ("Ye'll a' hear tell o' Rab Rorison's bonnet"), unknown, no date is this song but I could not download and verify it. According to the Bodleian notes the broadside has the following note: "Sung in the streets of Edin. Oct. 1826."
The GreigDuncan8 fragment is a verse that is not in Ramsay but is in the Bodleian broadsides. While the broadsides are clearly intended to be humorous and are almost entirely about the hat, Tannahill's poem is mostly about "the head that was in it." How serious is Tannahill's poem? While the rest of the song seems serious enough, Tannahill says "Yet o' what kind o' wisdom his head was possest Nane e'er kent but himsel', sae there's nane that will miss it." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81695

Rab the Rover


See The Banks of the Roses (File: Doe315)

Rabbit Chase


DESCRIPTION: Humorous cante-fable description of chasing a rabbit. Part of the humor is that, unlike "fox chase" songs, not much happens: The old wife wants a rabbit (though she hardly knows what one is); the old man and dog blunder around preparing to catch it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Charlie Parker)
KEYWORDS: hunting humorous animal dog family age
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 106-107, "Rabbit Chase" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Rabbit Chase" (on NLCR10)
Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, "Rabbit Chase" (Columbia 15154-D, 1927, on Cornshuckers1)
NOTES: Cohen notes that when he played this song for mountain people, they found it so amusing that they pulled out a tape recorder and taped *him*. - PJS
File: CSW106

Rabbit Hash


DESCRIPTION: Patting Chant: "Oh rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, Rabbit a-hash An' polecat smash; Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit a-hash. Rabbit skip an'-a rabbit hop, An' a-rabbit eat my turnip top. Oh, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit a-hash! Oh, rabbit a-hash."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 238-239, "Rabbit Hash" (1 text, 1 tune, though the tune is really just a single note fitted to the music)
BrownIII 168, "The Rabbit Skipped, The Rabbit Hopped" (1 short text)
Roud #10058
NOTES: This is a sort of a dubious lumping of Lomax's and Brown's versions; Brown's text consists simply of the lines "The rabbit skipped, the rabbit hopped, the rabbit bit off the turnip top," and Brown did not note it as a patting chant. But it's easy to see how it could have shifted from one form to the other.
Roud links together several rabbit songs under one number: "Mister Rabbit," "Ole Mister Rabbit (I'll Get You Rabbit)," even "Rabbit Hash." All are about rabbits raiding gardens (something they certainly do) and the attempts to punish them for it (rarely successful, even with modern technology). But the forms are quite distinct, so I split them. - RBW
File: LxA238

Rabbit in the Log (Feast Here Tonight)


DESCRIPTION: "Rabbit in the log And I ain't got no dog." The singer, apparently poor and a rambler, perhaps a poacher, imagines how to catch the dog and describes how he will cook and enjoy it. He will sleep in a farmer's shed, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food hunting
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 166, "Rabbit in the Log" (1 fragment)
RECORDINGS:
Monroe Brothers, "Have a Feast Here Tonight" (Bluebird 7508)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Never Let Your Honey Have Her Way" (lyrics, form)
File: Br3166

Rabbit Skipped, The Rabbit Hopped, The


See Rabbit Hash (File: LxA238)

Rabbit Stole de Greens


DESCRIPTION: "Rabbit stole de greens (x2), Break down, Molly, hoo, hoo (x2)." "Big pot o' punkins, Little pot o' peas; De ole har smile To see de pot bile. Break down, Molly, hoo, hoo. (x2)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 169, "Rabbit Stole de Greens" (1 text)
File: Br3169

Rabble Soldier


See The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)

Raccoon


DESCRIPTION: "Raccoon has a bushy tail, Possum's tail is bare. Rabbit has no tail at all, 'cept a little bunch of hair." Verses about love, animals, anything at all: "Love it is a killing thing, Beauty is a blossom, If you want your finger bit, Poke it at a possum"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: animal love nonsense floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 260, "Kitty Cain't You Come Along Too?" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 162, "De Possum Am a Cunning Thing" (2 short texts plus mention of 1 more); also 163, "The Raccoon Has a Bushy Tail" (1 text plus 2 fragments; the "C" text has the chorus of "Cindy"); also 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town"); also 17, "I Wouldn't Marry" (7 text (some short) plus 6 excerpts, 1 fragment, and mention of 5 more, of which "A" appears to mix this with "Coming Around the Mountain (II -- Charming Betsey)" and "I Won't Marry an Old Maid")
Brewster 83, "Raccoon's Got a Bush Tail" (1 text)
Warner 186, "Raccoon" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 225, "The Squirrel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 76, "The Squirrel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 11, (no title) (1 fragment, 1 tune on p. 385. A single stanza: "Jay-bird pulled a two-mule plow, Sparrow, why don't you...."; this verse seems to float but has been found in songs of this typle)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 165, "Old Bee Make de Honeycomb" (1 text, with most of the verses appearing to go here even though it has the "Old Bee" stanza also); also p. 169, (no title) (1 text, with verses probably from "Raccoon," unless they just floated in, while the chorus seems to be "Po' Liza Jane"); also sundry stanzas on pp. 169-170
Silber-FSWB, p. 398, "Raccoon's Got A Bushy Tail"; p. 401, "The Squirrel" (2 texts)
ST R260 (Partial)
Roud #3444
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Raccoon's Got a Bushy Tail" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kemo Kimo" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Pains in My Fingers" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Went to My Sweetheart's House" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rat Coon, Rat Coon" (theme)
cf. "Bile Them Cabbage Down" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mabel" (lyrics)
NOTES: As with all these floating-animal-verse songs, it's hard to tell where one begins and another ends. I group them as best I can.
It's interesting to note that both Randolph and the "A" text of Brown's "De Possum Am a Cunning Thing" share part of a chorus, "(Oh/Do) come along, Sandy Boy," even though this is clearly not integral to the song. Brewster's chorus is "Get along home, home, home (x3), Down the riverside." - RBW
File: R260

Raccoon Has a Bushy Tail


See Raccoon (File: R260)

Raccoon's Got a Bushy Tail


See Raccoon (File: R260)

Race of the Terrapin and the Deer


DESCRIPTION: The terrapin challenges the deer to a race. The deer agrees; the terrapin asks terrapins to hide by the path. When the deer calls out, "And where are you, terrapin?" the nearest terrapin answers, causing the deer to run faster till it is exhausted
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: animal racing trick recitation
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 504, "Race of the Terrapin and the Deer" (1 text with musical elements)
Roud #7818
NOTES: This is a widely-known folktale, but here presented with music, so into the Index it goes. - RBW
File: Beld504

Race, A


DESCRIPTION: Recitation. Deerfoot John brags that he's the champion foot-racer; Windigo challenges him to a 500-yard race. Deerfoot, running stark naked and with a 40-foot starting lead, runs well, but loses. Deerfoot swears that next time he'll run with his pants on.
AUTHOR: Attributed to Long Joe, from the town of Cedar, Michigan
EARLIEST DATE: April 28, 1878 (published in newspaper)
KEYWORDS: bragging contest clothes racing sports recitation
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 36, "A Race" (1 text)
Roud #8852
NOTES: Beck quotes an informant to the effect that this is a versified news story. - PJS
File: Be036

Rachel Dear/The Maine Water Side


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the sad day Rachel fell into the river Maine and drowned. She is found by her cousin. Her family, friends, and sweetheart mourn. The song closes with a description of her beauty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: river death
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H62, pp. 148-149, "Rachel Dear/The Main Water Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9451
NOTES: One of the Sam Henry colums claims this is a true story and gives circumstantial details, but no dates. - RBW
File: HHH062

Rackets Around the Blue Mountain Lake, The


See Blue Mountain Lake (The Belle of Long Lake) [Laws C20] (File: LC20)

Rackyman Doo (Ring-Dang-Doo (II))


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a young fellow, and asks whether he'd like to have a game on her rackyman doo. He asks what it is; she explains that it's soft, with hairs all round and split in two. She takes him to her father's cellar, gives him drink, and asks again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: early 1960s (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy
FOUND IN: Britain(England), US(MW), West Indies
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 40, "Ring Dang Doo" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ring-Dang-Doo (I)" (euphemism)
NOTES: I separate this from "Ring-Dang-Doo (I)" because it doesn't contain any of the plot elements of that song -- prostitution, pox, etc. No question but they're related, of course. Also, I use the name "Rackyman Doo" because that was Hughes' title for the song. - PJS
File: McCST040

Radcliffe Highway


See Ratcliffe Highway AND Blow the Man Down (File: Doe114)

Radical Gypsy David, The


See The Gypsy Laddie [Child 200] (File: C200)

Raftsman Jim


DESCRIPTION: "So her pop says, 'Nay,' and he lopes right away, And bobs right back the very next day; And he shuts one eye, And looks very sly, She gives her pop the sweet bye-bye." Chorus: "There ain't no cub as neat as him, Dandy, handy raftsman Jim!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Russell)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor courting father
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 840, "Raftsman Jim" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Edward Russell, _A-Rafting on the Mississip'_,, 1928 (republished 2001 by the University of Minnesota Press), pp. 209-211, "Raftsman Jim" (1 text, scattered across several pages, 1 tune)
NOTES: Walter Havinghurst, Upper Mississippi: A Wilderness Saga, Farrar & Rinehart, 1937, 1944, titles a chapter on river life "Raftsman Jim," and quotes the chorus of this on p. 252. Russell's chapter of river songs is also titled "Raftsman Jim." Although Russell's seems to be the only full text collected, it appears that Raftsman Jim was fairly well known in river folklore. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BAF840

Raftsman, The


See The Bold Soldier [Laws M27] (File: LM27)

Raftsmen, The


DESCRIPTION: French: "La ous-qu'y sont, tous les raftsmen?" The raftsmen are on their way to winter camp. They arrive, suffer the usual poor food, work in the woods, go home, and "to greet them come their ladies gay, Who help them spend their hard-earned pay."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925
KEYWORDS: logger work foreignlanguage worker lumbering
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 74-75, "The Raftsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 171-173, "The Raftsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 99 "The Raftsmen (Les Raftsmen)" (1 English and one French text)
Roud #2318
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Les Raftsmen" (on PeteSeeger29)
File: FJ074

Raftsmen's Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "I believe some dust of the wanderlust has been molded with my clay. Though I long to come to my home sweet home, it's never long I'll stay." The singer describes his travels, talks of troubles faced by raftsmen, and considers the raftsman's afterlife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work travel
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #64, "The Raftsmen's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4360
NOTES: Fowke speculates that this is composed, and I think this certain; both the long lines and the style are completely un-folk-like. - RBW
File: FowL64

Rag Pat


DESCRIPTION: The singer is trying to make a living selling flowers. It is his only choice; father was a drunkard. One day he returns home to find mother dead. Chorus: "Flowers, bouquet, flowers I cry... My clothes don't look neat While struggling for mother and I."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: flowers drink orphan poverty
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 320, "Rag Pat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7794
File: R320

Ragged and Dirty Blues


DESCRIPTION: "Well I'm ragged, I'm hungry, I'm dirty too... If I clean up, sweet mama, can I stay all, all night with you?" The poor, homeless, orphaned stranger hits on the woman and complains that he wants to die. Then he decides to leave her whatever it takes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: hardtimes hobo rambling courting train poverty
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scott-BoA, pp. 319-320, "Ragged and Dirty Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Broke and Hungry
File: SBoA319

Ragged Coat, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer, once poor, receives a large inheritance. As an experiment, he goes out in poor clothing -- and is despised. As soon as he displays money, he is treated kindly. He repeats the test, then notes "Many an honest heart beats beneath a ragged coat."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1850
KEYWORDS: poverty money clothes
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 102, "The Ragged Coat" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ST FSC102 (Partial)
File: FSC102

Raggedy


DESCRIPTION: "Raggedy, raggedy are we, Just as raggedy, raggedy can be. Well we don't get nothing for our labor, So raggedy are we." Similarly, "Hungry, hungry are we"; "Homeless, homeless are we"; "Landless..."; "Pitiful..."
AUTHOR: John Handcox
EARLIEST DATE: 1936
KEYWORDS: hardtimes poverty nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 337-338, "Raggedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 219-220, "Raggedy Raggedy" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 137, "Raggedy" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Raggedy" (on PeteSeeger13, AmHist1)
File: SBoA337

Raggedy Raggedy


See Raggedy (File: SBoA337)

Raggle Taggle Gypsies, O, The


See The Gypsy Laddie [Child 200] (File: C200)

Raging Can-all, The


See The Raging Canal (I) (File: San178)

Raging Canal (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "Come listen to my story, ye landsmen one and all, I'll sing to you the dangers of that raging canal." When the mules trip on a stormy night, the crew faces a wreck. The usual exaggerations, e.g. the cook's dress on a pole, are employed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: canal storm humorous cook
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 178-179, "The Raging Canawl" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 464-465, "(Erie Canal)" (2 texts, the second of which goes here; the first is "A Trip on the Erie (Haul in Your Bowline)"); pp. 471-474, "The Raging Can-all" (1 text)
DT, RAGCANAL*
Roud #6611
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
NOTES: The Erie Canal, as originally constructed, was a completely flat, shallow waterway. The barges were drawn along by mules. Thus, apart from getting wet, storms posed little danger. As for needing a distress signal, one could always step off onto dry land....
The Lomaxes, in American Ballad and Folk Songs, thoroughly mingled many texts of the Erie Canal songs (in fairness, some of this may have been the work of their informants -- but in any case the Lomaxes did not help the problem). One should check all the Erie Canal songs for related stanzas. - RBW
File: San178

Raging Canal (II), The


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

Raging Canawl, The


See The Raging Canal (I) (File: San178)

Raging Sea


See The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)

Raglan Road


DESCRIPTION: "On Raglan Road of an Autumn day, I saw her first and knew, That her dark hair would weave a snare That I might someday rue." "I loved too much, and by such and such Is happiness thrown away." The singer warns of the dangers of courting "an angel."
AUTHOR: Patrick Kavanagh (1904/05-1967)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Harte)
KEYWORDS: love beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
DT, RAGLANRD*
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 14-15, "Raglan Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Although I know of no traditional collections, Harte thinks this is becoming a traditional song.
There is an interesting reference to "The Queen of Hearts still making tarts." Is this a reference to "Alice," or to the rhyme Carroll used as the basis for the adventures in Wonderland? It's not clear. - RBW
File: Har014

Ragtime Cowboy Joe


DESCRIPTION: "The roughest, toughest man by far" in Arizona is Ragtime Cowboy Joe, who got his name because "He always sings raggy music to the cattle... On a horse that is syncopated gaited." But folks are advised not to cross him; his gun will make them dance
AUTHOR: Words: Grant Clarke/Music: Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: cowboy music nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 107, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 107, "Rag Time Cowboy Joe" (1 text)
DT, RAGTMJOE*
Roud #11097
RECORDINGS:
Girls of the Golden West, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (Columbia 37724, 1947)
Ranch Boys, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (Decca 5074, 1935)
SAME TUNE:
Doc Roberts, "Ragtime Chicken Joe" (Conqueror 8566, 1935)
File: FCW107

Railroad Bill [Laws I13]


DESCRIPTION: Railroad Bill "never worked and never will"; he drinks, steals, and travels from town to town. His career finally ends when he is shot (and/or arrested). To the very end, all he does is "ride, ride, ride"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Odum, according to Cohen)
KEYWORDS: rambling robbery crime death train
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
March 7, 1897 - Death of Morris Slater, known as "Railroad Bill"
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws I13, "Railroad Bill"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 122-131, "Railroad Bill" (2 texts plus many excerpts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 384-385, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune -- perhaps bowdlerized to eliminate Bill's death)
BrownIII 504, "A Thirty-Two Special on a Forty-Four Frame" (1 two-line fragment, with lyrics sometimes associated with this song)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 251-253, "It's Lookin' fer Railroad Bill" (2 texts plus some small pieces, which might be "Joseph Mica" rather than this)
Lomax-FSNA 304, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 118-120, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 201-202, "(Railroad Bill)" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 148, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 240-242, "Railroad Bill" (2 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 99 "Railroad Bill" (1 text)
DT 662, (RRBILL*)
Roud #4181
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall, "Railroad Bill" (AFS 1315 B2, 1323 A3; 1937)
Willie Hill, "Railroad Bill" (on FolkVisions2)
Frank Hutchison, "Railroad Bill" (OKeh 45425, 1930; rec. 1929)
Otis Mote, "Railroad Bill" (OKeh 45389, 1929)
Riley Puckett, "Railroad Bill" (Columbia 15040-D, 1925; Silvertone 3258, 1926)
Roba Stanley, Bob Stanley & (?) Patterson, "Railroad Bill" (OKeh 40295, 1925; rec. 1924)
Hobart Smith, "Railroad Bill" (on LomaxCD1705) (Disc 6081, 1940s)
NOTES: Burt reports that Morris Slater, known as "Railroad Bill," "terrorized" Florida and Alabama from 1894 to 1897, initially robbing freight trains, but later perhaps branching out; an Alabana deputy was killed during the saga, and Slater was blamed.
Slater was eventually surrounded and surprised in a grocery, "eating crackers and cheese"; he probably could have been taken, but the posse shot him instead.
Burt's version of the ballad specifically mentions the crackers and cheese, but Laws is rather cautious in reporting Burt's story, and I have to agree with him: I don't think we can prove Burt's Alabama version (published 1927) to be the original.
Cohen adds even more data, noting a number of the parts of "Railroad Bill" seem to precede Slater. Either there was another "Railroad Bill," or the song adapted a large number of other railrod bits. - RBW
File: LI13

Railroad Blues (I)


DESCRIPTION: Floating verses; "Went to the depot and I looked up on the board, It read, good times, children..."; "Where was you, mama, when the train left the shed..."; "Met a little Gypsy in a fortune telling place/She read my mind, and then she slapped my face."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, Sam McGee)
KEYWORDS: railroading nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 190, "Railroad Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 402-403, "The Railroad Blues" (1 excerpted text, 1 tune -- a subset of a song collected in 1915 and printed in JAFL, with fully 80 four-line stanzas, most of which could however be treated as doubles two-line stanzas and therefore sung as a true blues. It has floating verses from everywhere, which perhaps means it should file here. I don't list it as the Earliest Date, though, because it's so anomalous)
RECORDINGS:
Jelly Roll Anderson, "Good Time Blues" (Gennett 6181, 1927) (Herwin 92014, 1927) (one of these two successive cuts is on TimesAint03)
Willie Hill, "Good Old Birmingham" (on FolkVisions2)
Daddy John Love, "Railroad Blues" (Bluebird B-6624, 1936)
Sam McGee, "Railroad Blues" (Champion 45033, 1935; Decca 5348, 1937) (on McGeeSmith1, TimesAint05)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Railroad Blues" (on NLCR03, NLCR12, NLCRCD1)
Art Thieme, "Railroad Blues and Nine Pound Hammer" [medley] (on Thieme01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Baby, All Night Long" (words)
File: CSW190

Railroad Blues (II)


DESCRIPTION: "I got the blues, but I haven't got the fare (x2). I got the blues, but I'm too damned mean to cry." "Some say the rolling blues ain't bad..." the singer concludes they have some other sort of blues. He laments his dead mother and sister gone astray.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: railroading death mother
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 243, "Railroad Blues" (1 text)
Roud #11646
NOTES: As with most blues, this is a rather disjointed piece; it may be a version of "Railroad Blues (I)." But as that piece is more or less a unity, and Scarborough's version has no lyrics in common that I can see, I split them. - RBW
File: ScaNF243

Railroad Blues (III)


See Alabama Bound (II) (File: PSAFB044)

Railroad Boomer, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come and gather all around me, listen to my tale of woe... Take a tip from one who's travelled, never start to ramblin' round, Yu're liable to get the wandr'rin fever." The singer plans to marry, but then hears a train; he asks to be buried by the tracks
AUTHOR: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (copyright and first recording)
KEYWORDS: train travel rambling wife abandonment
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 390-393, "" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Frank Luther and Carson J. Robison, "The Railroad Boomer" (Victor V-40139 [as by Bud Billings and Robison], 1929) (Gennett 7019/Champion 15848/Champion 45020/Supertone 9567, 1929)
NOTES: Somewhere in here, there's a joke about Robison writing a science fiction story about the future life of Woody Guthrie.
This is another of the songs in Cohen that comes from the railroad/hillbilly genre but that can't be shown to have circulated in oral tradition. - RBW
File: LSRai390

Railroad Boy, The


See The Bonny Laboring Boy [Laws M14] (File: LM14)
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