Shepherd's Lament, The


DESCRIPTION: A (shepherd) and a young girl meet on a May morning. He wishes to marry, but she is too young and wishes to work as a servant. After she has left to go into the lady's service, he writes to ask her intent. She says that she never intended to marry him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1767 (Journal from the Vaughn)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation apprentice servant youth floatingverses
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 227-228, "The Shepherd's Lament" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Bushes [Laws P2]" (theme, floating lyrics)
NOTES: This song consists almost entirely of floating material, with "The Green Bushes" being perhaps the largest single source (they also have some thematic similarities). But the result, in Huntington's opinion and my own, is a distinct song.
I don't know of any other pure versions, but it has so many traditional elements that I decided to include it in the Index. - RBW
File: SWMS227

Shepherd's Son, The


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

Shepherd's Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a shepherd and I rise ere the sun is in the skies." The singer describes the hard work caring for, feeding, and selling sheep. If his girl will name the day they'll marry. He warns other shepherds against "fiery liquor" at show or fair.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (recording, Willie Scott); c.1906 (according to Yates)
KEYWORDS: commerce work drink nonballad sheep shepherd
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord))
Roud #5124
RECORDINGS:
Willie Scott, "The Shepherd's Song" (on Voice20)
NOTES: Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 20" - 15.1.04: "Willie (born 1897) learnt this sometime around 1906 from his brother Tom...." - BS
File: RcTSheSo

Shepherd's Virtuous Daughter, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer, fishing, is so taken by a girl he sees that he loses his line and hook in the brook. She is a shepherd's daughter come to bathe in the Boyne. He proposes. She suggest he have his parents find a more suitable bride.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection fishing
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 20, "The Shepherd's Virtuous Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2879
File: MorU020

Shepherd's Wife, The


See O Shepherd, O Shepherd (File: VWL074)

Sherfield Apprentice, The


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

Sheriff's Sale, The


DESCRIPTION: "'Tis misfortune o'ertook us, and a tale soon did tell; The Sheriff came in our old home for to sell." Mother and sister "prepare to depart from their old cottage door" but are spared: the purchaser of the auctioned home turns out to be a family member.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes help family home police
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 138-140, 255, "The Sheriff's Sale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4983
File: IvDC038

Sherman Cyclone, The [Laws G31]


DESCRIPTION: A great storm sweeps unexpectedly through Sherman, causing extensive damage and some loss of life
AUTHOR: Mattie Carter East
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: storm disaster death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 15, 1896 - The Sherman tornado
FOUND IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Laws G31, "The Sherman Cyclone"
DT 795, SHERCYCL*
Roud #3260
NOTES: 1896 was apparently a bad year for tornadoes; on May 27 of that year a storm hit Saint Louis, killing 400 and leaving 5000 homeless. - RBW
File: LG31

Sherman's March to the Sea


DESCRIPTION: "Our campfires shone bright on those mountains That frowned on the river below... When a rider came out of the darkness... And shouted... 'Sherman will march to the sea.'" The Atlanta campaign and the March to the Sea are briefly retold
AUTHOR: Words: Lt. Samuel Hawkins Marshall Byers
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: Civilwar patriotic derivative
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 13-16, 1864 - William T. Sherman attacks J. E. Johnston's army at Resaca on the way from Tennessee to Atlanta. Sherman failed to move Johnston's army, but forced the Confederates to fall back by threatening their supply line
June 27, 1864 - Battle of Kenesaw Mountain. For the first (and only) time in the Atlanta campaign, Sherman tried a direct assault on Johnston's lines. It failed bloodily. Sherman then once again levered Johnston out of his lines by maneuver
(July 17, 1864 - Jefferson Davis relieves Johnston and replaces him with the more aggressive but less competent John Bell Hood. Hood's attacking strategy cost his army severely and by July 25 left him besieged in Atlanta)
Sept 1, 1864 - Hood evacuates Atlanta
Nov 15, 1864 - Sherman splits his army into two parts. One, under Thomas, was to defend Atlanta, while Sherman took nearly 60,000 men on the "March to the Sea"
Dec 10, 1864 - Sherman's forces reach Savannah
Dec 21, 1864 - Sherman captures Savannah
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 248-250, "Sherman's March to the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 206-207, "Sherman's March to the Sea" (1 text)
DT, SHERMSEA*
Roud #17738
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosin the Beau" (tune) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
When Sherman Marched Down to the Sea
File: SBoA248

Shew Me the Way to Wallington


See The Way to Wallington (File: StoR148)

Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me


See Shoo Fly (File: R273)

Shickered As He Could Be


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

Shilling or Twa (I), A


DESCRIPTION: Describing the blessings of having "a shilling or twa" in the pocket. One can settle troubles, avoid bankruptcy, fool creditors, and also stay happy: "Oh! what a grand thing is a shilling or twa... It's a round ready passport, a shilling or twa."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1877 (Poet's Box broadside, according to GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: money commerce nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig 140, p. 3, "A Shilling or Twa" (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan3 669, "A Shillin' or Twa" (2 fragments)
Ord, pp. 388-389, "A Shilling or Twa" (1 text)
Roud #2177
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Shilling or Twa (II)"
File: Ord388

Shilling or Twa (II), A


DESCRIPTION: Probably derived from "A Shilling or Twa (I)." The singer declares "Awa' wi' your dearies and juice o' the vine... gie me the glint o' a shillin' or twa." He rejects honor and fame; all he wants is "A bonnie, bright siller white shillin' or twa."
AUTHOR: Words: William Fleming
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: money commerce nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, pp. 389-390, "A Shilling or Twa" (1 text)
Roud #2178
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Shilling or Twa (I)"
File: Ord389

Shiloh


See Limber Jim (File: BMRF593B)

Shiloh Brown (I)


See Shallo Brown (Shallow Brown) (File: Doe044)

Shiloh Brown (II)


See Tommy's Gone to Hilo (File: Doe030)

Shinbone Alley (Stay a Little Longer, Long Time Ago)


DESCRIPTION: "You ought to see my blue-eyed Sally, She lives way down in shinbone alley, No number on the gate, no number on the door, Folks around here are gettin' mighty poor." Unrelated verses about southern life, disasters, prison, rising creeks, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: home hardtimes poverty prison flood
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
BrownIII 422, "Shinbone Alley" (1 fragment)
~~~~~
Sources for "Stay All Night," the Bob Wills song:
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 23, #2 (1974), p, 1, "Stay All Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11769
RECORDINGS:
cf. Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, "Stay a Little Longer" (Columbia 37097, 1946)
NOTES: The notes in Brown describe this as common, but cite only one possibly-traditional version (in Odum and Johnson).
The problem in fact is very complex: What is the relationship of this traditional song to Bob Wills's "Stay a Little Longer"? The one verifiable traditional collection is Brown's, which came a few years after the Wills recording, but is significantly different -- some lyrics Wills didn't use, added chorus, etc.
Paul Stamler thinks they're the same. I waver, since there are are few printed fragments which seem to predate Wills by many decades. For the moment, I'm still listing this under Brown's title, but listing the Wills version as a likely by-blow or perhaps even a source. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Br3422

Shine and the Titanic (Titanic #14)


DESCRIPTION: Recitation. Shine is aboard the Titanic when the ship hits an iceberg. The captain's daughter asks Shine's help; he says, "Pussy's good... but this is one time I'm gonna save Shine's ass." The captain receives the same reply. Shine survives the wreck
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (recording by anonymous artist)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Recitation. Shine, a black man, is in the hold of the Titanic stacking sacks when the ship hits an iceberg. The captain's daughter asks Shine to save her; he says, "Pussy's good, while it lasts, but this is one time I'm gonna save Shine's ass." The captain offers him money; he gives the same reply. "The last time I seen Shine, he was dead drunk upon a airline"
KEYWORDS: sex request rejection help rescue ship drink disaster wreck recitation worker Black(s)
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 213-214, "Shine Reel" (1 fragment, 1 tune, mentioning being "Alabama Bound" but also mentioning some being on a boat that sank, so it might be part of this. Shine -- a name Scarborough connects with [shoe]shine -- is not mentioned by name)
RECORDINGS:
Unidentified reciter, "Shine and the Titanic" (on Unexp1)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Titanic Toast
NOTES: Paul Stamler suggests that the Shine of this song is the same as that of "Po' Shine," "Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos," and "Travelin' Man." If so, he had more lives than a cat.
For the record, while Captain Smith of the Titanic did have a daughter, she was born in 1902 (see Stephanie Barczewski, Titanic: A Night Remembered (Hambledon Continuum, 2004, p. 163), so Shine would have had a significant problem had he touched her. But she wasn't aboard the Titanic anyway.
Nor could Shine have survived the wreck by swimming, as is found in some versions; the water at the time the ship sank was at a temperature of 28 degrees Farenheit, and exposure to it was fatal within minutes.
In any case, although historians have tried hard to find a Black aboard the Titanic, it appears that there were *none* on the ship. Zero. Quite certainly no American Blacks. (See, e.g., Steven Biel, Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster, Norton, 1997, p. 112).
According to Wyn Craig Wade, The Titanic: End of a Dream (revised edition, Penguin, 1986), pp. 318-319, this recitation was collected at least 15 times; he cites Sandburg to the effect that Black soldiers knew and recited it in World War I.
For an extensive history of the Titanic, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the Titanic songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcShinTi

Shine Like a Star in the Morning


DESCRIPTION: John hears a voice, "I am Alpha Omega, the first and last/To conquer death in Hell did cast." Terrified, he sees Jesus crucified, falling into Hell, rising again. Chorus: "Shine, shine, shine like a star in the morning... All around the throne of God"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Joe Lee)
LONG DESCRIPTION: John is standing alone when a voice tells him, "I am Alpha Omega, the first and last/To conquer death in Hell did cast." Terrified, he has a vision of Jesus crucified, falling into Hell, then rising up again; he says, "God gonna take me from that earthly 'bode." Chorus: "Shine, shine, shine like a star in the morning...All around the throne of God"
KEYWORDS: resurrection death Hell Bible religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Joe Lee, "Shine Like a Star in the Morning" (AFS 745 B4, 1936; on LC10)
NOTES: Most of this is, of course, taken from the Revelation to John (e.g. the reference to the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, occurs several times in that book, starting with 1:8).
An exception is the concept of the descent into Hell. Though firmly rooted in Catholic tradition, and mentioned in the traditional form of the Apostles' Creed (which is not Apostolic), there is no scriptural reference to such an event (unless you count Ephesians 4:9-11, which I would regard as a reference to the Incarnation, or other passages such as 1 Pet. 3:19, which may refer to proclamations of salvation to the damned). - RBW
File: RcSLaSiM

Shine on Me


DESCRIPTION: "Shine on me, oh shine on me/Let the light from the lighthouse shine on me"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 ("Songs and Spirituals", Chicago, Overton-Hygienic Co.)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 76 "Shine On Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10622
RECORDINGS:
Rev. Johnnie Blakey, "Let the Light Shine on Me" (OKeh 8758, 1930; rec. 1928)
Famous Garland Jubilee Singers, "Shine on Me" (Romeo 5135, 1932)
Blind Willie Johnson, "Let Your Light Shine on Me" (Columbia 14490-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on BWJ01, BWJ03)
Ernest Phipps & his Holiness Singers, "Shine on Me" (Bluebird 5540A, 1928; on AAFM2)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Let It Shine On Me
Let the Light From Your Lighthouse Shine On Me
NOTES: Found in both Anglo- and Afro-American tradition. - PJS
File: ADR76

Shining Dagger, The


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

Ship A-Sailing, A


DESCRIPTION: "I saw a ship a-sailing, A-sailing on the sea, And it was deeply laden with pretty things for me. There were comfits in the cabin and almonds in the hold." The sails are satin; the mast, gold; the sailors, white mice; the captain, a duck.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1815 (Family album, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: talltale playparty nonballad ship animal
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Linscott, pp. 284-285, "A Ship A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 470, "I saw a ship a-sailing" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #271, p. 163, "(I saw a ship a-sailing)"
ST Lins284 (Partial)
Roud #3742
NOTES: This seems to go back to Halliwell (1852), though Linscott connects it with a game called the "Duck Dance."
Katherine Elwes Thomas evolved the theory that the duck-Captain was Sir Francis Drake, while the "four-and-twenty white mice with chains about their necks" were slaves. I'd be more inclined to believe it if Thomas could bridge the more than two century gap between the actual song and the events it allegedly describes. - RBW
File: Lins284

Ship Came Sailing, A


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

Ship Carpenter, The


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

Ship Carpenter's Wife, The


See Sale of a Wife (File: HHH226)

Ship Euphrasia, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come all Christian people who do intend To know God's laws and his rights defend...." The singer tells of setting sail on a whaler, describes the horrid, rotten food, and complains of the isolation of the captain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (Journal from the Euphrasia)
KEYWORDS: whaler ship food hardtimes
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 47-49, "The Ship Euphrasia" ( text)
Roud #2013
File: SWMS047

Ship in Distress, The


DESCRIPTION: Sailors on a becalmed ship suffer starvation. They cast lots to determine which of them shall die to feed the rest. The one who is chosen asks that a sentry climb the topmast to search for aid while he prays. A ship is sighted and they are rescued.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (and 19th century broadsheets)
KEYWORDS: ship disaster cannibalism reprieve rescue starvation sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sharp-100E 90, "The Ship in Distress" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 96, "The Ship in Distress" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SHPDSTRS*
Roud #807
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Nau Catarineta" (Portuguese)
cf. "La Courte Paille" (French) (plot)
cf. "Little Boy Billee (Le Petite Navire, The Little Corvette)" (plot)
cf. "The Silk Merchant's Daughter (I)" [Laws N10] (plot)
cf. "The Banks of Newfoundland (II)" (plot)
cf. "The American Aginora" (plot)
File: ShH90

Ship Lady Sherbroke, The


See The Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke (File: HHH570)

Ship Lord Wolseley, The


DESCRIPTION: The ship leaves Belfast for Philadelphia on the 18th of January under Cap'n James Dunn. Song describes several ports and storms and constantly makes references to the bravery and steadfastness of the crew and officers.
AUTHOR: Wm. R.B. Dawson
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: ship foc's'le sailor
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 181-183, "The Ship Lord Wolseley" (1 text, sung to "Yankee Man-of-War")
Roud #9149
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yankee Man-of-War" [probably the song indexed as "The British Man-of-War"] (tune)
NOTES: Harlow says that the author Dawson was bo'sun on the Lord Wolseley when he wrote this.
Lord Wolseley was a four masted ship built in 1883 by Harland & Wolff, Belfast. She was sold and renamed several times, as Columbia, Everett G. Griggs, Wolseley (again) before being broken up and used for parts in 1928. - SL
I have to admit I find the name of the ship pretty ironic. Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913) was not a navy man but a soldier all his life, fighting in the Crimean War and thirty years of colonial wars before becoming army Commander in Chief in 1895. He was made a viscount in 1883 after winning the battle of Tel-el-Kebir in Egypt (1882). His most famous moment, perhaps, came two years later, when he tried and failed to rescue Gordon from Khartoum -- a rescue that might have succeeded had he understood river transport better.
For a summary of his career, see David Chandler, general editor; Ian Beckett, associate editor, The Oxford History of the British Army, 1994 (I use the 1996 Oxford paperback edition), pp. 191-193. For the Gordon affair, see Byron Farwell, Queen Victoria's Little Wars (1972; I used the 1985 Norton edition), pp. 281-294, or the notes to "Andy McElroe."
Odds are, however, that if you have met Wolseley, it was in another guise. He was the model for Major General Stanley (the Modern Major General) in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." At least, in the first British production, the character playing Stanley was costumed to look like Wolseley. Of course, the creation was very unlike the model for the Model -- they were almost inverses, with Wolseley's competence being almost solely military. Nonetheless, Wolseley supposedly enjoyed singing the Modern Major General's patter song (see Ian Bradley, editor, The Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan 1, Penguin, 1982 (I use the slightly revised 1985 edition), p. 118). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Harl181

Ship of Zion (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "What is this ship you're going on board, oh, glory hallelujah (x2)? 'Tis the Old Ship Zion, hallelujah (x4) What colors does she hoist in time of war? oh, glory hallelujah (x2)? 'Tis the bloody robe of Jesus, hallelujah (x4)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, pp. 102-103, "The Old Ship of Zion" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 623, "The Old Ship of Zion" (3 texts, of which "A" is clearly "The Old Ship of Zion (I)" but B is an unidentifiable fragment; C, with references to India and the Ganges, may be a separate piece)
FSCatskills 83, "The Ship of Zion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 366, "Old Ship of Zion" (1 text)
ST FSC083 (Partial)
Roud #4204
RECORDINGS:
McFadden Gospel Singers, "Old Ship of Zion" (Coleman 5976, n.d.)
NOTES: In the Sacred Harp, the tune to this is said tentatively to be by Thomas W. Carter.
White reports a whole class of "Ship of Zion" songs, not all of which can easily be distinguished. I've split off some with clear personalities, but some just have to be lumped here. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FSC083

Ship Rambolee, The


See The Loss of the Ramillies [Laws K1]
 (File: LK01)

Ship That Is Passing By, The


DESCRIPTION: "I once had a father but now I have none, He's gone to that beautiful home. O Lord, let me sail on that beautiful ship, The ship that is passing by. The days seem so sad and the night seems so long And I am so lonely here." Similarly mother, brother, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad family
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 316, p. 191, "The Ship That Is Passing By" (1 text)
Roud #4303
File: CW191

Ship That Never Came, The


See The Gentle Boy (Why Don't Father's Ship Come In) (File: GrMa113)

Ship That Never Returned, The [Laws D27]


DESCRIPTION: A ship is preparing to sail. The lives of several of the passengers, their reasons for leaving, and their farewells to family and/or sweethearts are briefly described. But the ship disappears at sea, apparently with all hands
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: sea farewell wreck disaster
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws D27,"The Ship that Never Returned"
Randolph 690, "The Ship that Never Returned" (2 texts)
BrownII 25, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text plus mention of 10 more as well as a pair of offshoots)
Sandburg, pp. 146-147, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 92-93, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, p. 138, "The Ship that Never Returned" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 142-143, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 186-187, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 268, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 197-226, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (6 texts plus excerpts, 1 tune, plus a sheet music cover and sundry excerpts from related songs including a text of "The Ship That Never Returned)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Ship That Never Returned" (source notes only)
DT 618, NVRETURN* NVRETUR2*
Roud #775
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Ship That Never Returned" (on NFOBlondahl03)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Ship That Never Returned" (Gennett 3311, 1926)
Bradley Kincaid, "The Ship That Never Returned" (Bluebird 5569, 1934)
Asa Martin, "The Ship That Never Returned" (Oriole 8163/Conqueror 8068 [as Martin & Roberts], 1932)
Roe Bros. & Morrell, "The Ship That Never Returned" (Columbia 15156-D, 1927)
Charles Lewis Stine, "The Ship That Never Returned" (Columbia 15027-D, 1925)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1518, "The Ship That Never Returned," T. Brooks (Bristol), n.d.
LOCSheet, sm1885 21919, "The Ship That Never Returned," S. Brainard's. Sons (Cleveland), 1885 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Train that Never Returned" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Wreck of Old 97" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Rarden Wreck of 1893" (tune & metre)
cf. "The Flying Colonel" (tune)
cf. "M.T.A." (tune)
cf. "Lovers Parted" (tune, lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
The Train That Never Returned (File: R694)
The Wreck of Old 97 [Laws G2] (File: LG02)
The Rarden Wreck of 1893 (File: DarNS215)
The Flying Colonel (File: EM404)
Lovers Parted (File: BrII215A)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Airship That Never Returned" (Columbia 15162-D, 1927)
Ernest Stoneman, "The Face That Never Returned" (OKeh, unissued, 1924) (OKeh 40288, 1925) [probably this tune, though we haven't been able to check]
NOTES: This may be the best-selling tune of all time in terms of fraction of the population which experienced it; "The Ship that Never Returned" was a hit in sheet music, and "The Wreck of Old 97" and "M.T.A." (which also uses the tune) were hits on record. Sadly, Work made only a little money off the piece. - RBW
Blondahl03 has no liner notes confirming that this song was collected in Newfoundland. Barring another report for Newfoundland I do not assume it has been found there. There is no entry for "The Ship That Never Returned" in Newfoundland Songs and Ballads in Print 1842-1974 A Title and First-Line Index by Paul Mercer. - BS
File: LD27

Ship to Old England Came, A


DESCRIPTION: With 50 guns and 500 men an English warship meets five French men-of-war. Aloft, the cabin boy sees three English ships -- Oak, Sloe, and Unity -- that join the battle and "quickly made those French dogs flee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1974 (recording, Walter Pardon)
KEYWORDS: battle navy England France
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #1424
RECORDINGS:
Walter Pardon, "A Ship to Old England Came" (on Voice02)
File: RcasTOEC

Ship's Carpenter, The


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

Ship's in the Harbor, The


See Teasing Songs (File: EM256)

Shipwreck on the Lagan Canal, The


DESCRIPTION: Captain McFall's ship sails "up the Lagan Canal," "bound for foreign countries," "with a cargo of Indian meal." In "a dreadful gale" they strike "a coral reef" and sink "to the shin." A coastguard rescues the crew "as none of us could swim"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1890-1918 (J Nicholson ballad sheet, according to Leyden)
KEYWORDS: canal humorous storm wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leyden 38, "The Shipwreck on the Lagan Canal" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
File: Leyd038

Shipwreck, The


See The Streams of Lovely Nancy (File: VWL098)

Shirt and the Apron, The [Laws K42]


DESCRIPTION: The sailor comes to shore and meets a girl who takes him to a dance, then to supper, then to bed. He awakens in the morning to find both his money and his clothes gone. He is forced to return to his ship in women's clothing -- to the amusement of the crew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1890-1918 (J Nicholson ballad sheet, according to Leyden); 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: sex robbery dancing clothes whore
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws K42, "The Shirt and the Apron"
Leyden 31, "The Sailor's Hornpipe in Caxon Street" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 112, "The Shirt and the Apron" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 105, "Barrack Street" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 376-377, "Jack-All-Alone" (1 text) [AbEd, pp. 283-285 as "The New York Gals"]
JHJohnson, pp. 70-71, "The Shirt and the Apron" (1 text)
DT 418, PETERST
Roud #1902
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gold Watch" [Laws K41] (plot) and references there
cf. "The Beggar Wench"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jack-All-Alone
Peter Street
The Shift and the Apron
Patrick Street
File: LK42

Shirt I Left Behind, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer quits Dan McCann's lodgings but leaves his shirt. McCann's daughter tells him to retrieve it. That night, drunk, he sees the shirt coming down the street, hit it with a brick, and kills McCann's daughter who was in it. He is fined ten quid.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: murder clothes drink humorous derivative
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 64, "The Shirt I Left Behind" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Girl I Left Behind Me (II - lyric)" (tune) and references there
NOTES: Maybe it needs to be sung to be "humorous." [Alternately, maybe one needed to know McCann and/or his daughter? Perhaps there is a reason the song is not widely known.... - RBW] The parody is only in the tune and "the shirt I left behind me" end of each verse. - BS
File: McB1064

Shirt of Lace, The


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

Shirt, The


See Kate's Big Shirt (File: Pea069)

Shivering in the Cold


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his parents, his wife, his children, his money -- all lost because of drink. He yearns to be free of his burden. Chorus: "Yes alone, all alone, And I feel I'm growing old, Yet I wander, oh how lonely, And I'm shivering in the cold."
AUTHOR: Mrs. Knowles Shaw
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Harvest Bells Songbook)
KEYWORDS: drink poverty captivity
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 327, "Shivering in the Cold" (2 texts)
BrownIII 31, "I'm Alone, All Alone" (1 text plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more)
Roud #7801
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm Alone, All Alone (I)" (theme)
File: R327

Shock Along, John


DESCRIPTION: Described as "A corn-song, of which only the burden is remembered": "Shock along, John, shock along; Shock along, John, shock along."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison, "Slave Songs of the United States")
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 67, "Shock ALong, John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 906, "Shock Along, John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12024
NOTES: I wonder if this might not have started out as a "Walk Along, John" song. But with only five words, who can tell? - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: BAF906

Shoemaker (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "Make my Kate a pair of shoes, Make 'em out of the best of leather, I'll peg 'em well and stitch 'em tight (or: "Draw 'em around the firey side") And then they'll last forever." The singer seeks, by the making of shoes, to bind Kate to him (?)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: work courting clothes
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 566, "The Shoemaker" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
JHCox 171, "The Cobbler's Boy" (1 text)
SHenry H551, p. 40, "The Cobbler" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 100, "The Shoemaker" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, COBBLR*
Roud #837
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shoemaker's Kiss"
NOTES: This may be a byblow of "The Shoemaker's Kiss"; there are common elements. But if so, the degree of sanitizing is so extreme that they can be counted as separate songs. - RBW
The entry in SharpAp is fragmentary and almost devoid of plot, but it mentions Kate, so I put it here. - PJS
File: R566

Shoemaker (II) The


See The Shoemaker's Kiss (File: KinBB15)

Shoemaker (III), The


DESCRIPTION: "My mother sent me to the school To learn to be a stocking-knitter, But I went wrang and played the fool And married with a shoemaker." She complains of his looks, his tools, his stink, and the miserable life she leads: "Who would have a shoemaker?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: work marriage warning
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 114-115, "The Shoemakker" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 479, "The Shoemaker" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
ST StoR114 (Partial)
Roud #3152
NOTES: In a number of versions of this song, including Stokoe's, the man's occupation is "shoemakker" (double k). This appears to be an attempt to show that the "a" is pronounced short -- he "maks" shoes, rather than "makes" them. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: StoR114

Shoemaker at His Last, The


See Sair Fyel'd, Hinny (File: StoR048)

Shoemaker's Kiss, The


DESCRIPTION: The girl comes to the shoemaker and requests a pair of shoes. He thereupon "fits" the girl. (Forty) weeks later she brings forth a son. When mother asks where the boy came from, she says "the shoemaker's kiss."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: sex clothes pregnancy childbirth children
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland,England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kinloch-BBook XV, pp. 55-57, "The Shoemaker" (1 text)
DT, SHOEKISS*
Roud #3807
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Trooper Watering His Nag" (chorus lyrics)
cf. "The Shoemaker (I)"
NOTES: The "other" shoemaker song ("The Shoemaker (I)") has some elements in common with this song, and may be distantly related. But if so, there has been an extreme degree of sanitation in between.
Roud lumps this with "A Kiss in the Morning Early," which is also about relations between a girl and a shoemaker -- but the latter does not involve pregnancy. - RBW
File: KinBB15

Shoemaker's Son, The


DESCRIPTION: "Young Jimmy was a shoemaker's son, And through this country his bread he won. Her father was of high degree, He was captain over some ships on the sea."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: love courting father
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 193, "The Shoemaker's Son" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This is clearly a fragment of a longer ballad (probably telling of the father's opposition to the young people's marriage), but without a longer version, we can't tell much about it. - RBW
File: MA193

Shon M'Nab


DESCRIPTION: Shon M'Nab fails at herding, fishing, and running a still. He goes to Glasgow and is overcome by the wonders he sees. He sees fire used all around and is convinced the people in Glasgow must be in league with the Devil. He prefers the old ways.
AUTHOR: Alexander Rodger (1784-1846)
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (Rodger)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Shon M'Nab is 45 and has seen the world turned upside down: gentlemen become poor and beggars become rich, and Whig turn Tory, Tory turn Whig. He began by herding cows, then fishing in a herring boat. He tried fishing cod off Newfoundland until his boat overturned and he decided he'd fish for cod no more. Back home he had a whisky still until a revenuer had him sent to jail. Once out he went to Glasgow where he saw a thousand wonders: he saw a man, rather than a horse, pulling a cart; he saw a black man music grinder turning his "mill" about, putting nothing in but taking music out. He wondered that so many people had spoons "to sup teir pick o' meat" when, where he came from, a whole house might have only one or two spoons. What sin made the women ashamed to show their face that they covered it with "plack"?
He found it strange to be able to draw water "and ne'er rin dry" and to see lamps in long rows with no wick or lack of oil. The Glasgow folk must have dealings with the Devil for all their use of fire for every purpose "and some o' tem will eat ta fire, And no him's pelly purn [belly burn]"; they use fire to make a coach run on the railroad (M'Nab himself would rather have a horse); they use fire to make vessels run (at the Broomielaw he sees a ship "wi' twa mill-wheels [to] grund ta water sma'"). In Glasgow the houses stretch "mile and mair, Wi' names 'poon ilka toor." He wonders what the people do with all the things he saw; he'd prefer the old ways: brose [oatmeal and boiling water], kilt and hose, and barley brew.
KEYWORDS: clothes commerce farming fishing technology humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1764, "John MacNab" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: Whistle-Binkie [, First Series] (Glasgow, 1846), pp. 29-32, "Shon M’Nab"
Alexander Rodger, Poems and Songs (Glasgow, 1838), pp. 53-59, "Shon M’Nab"
Roud #13012
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(147a), "John M'Nab's Opinion of the March of Intellect" ("Nainsel pe maister Shon M'Nab, pe auld as forty-five, man"), Sanderson (Edinburgh), 1830-1910
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "For A' That An' A' That" (tune, per Roger)
cf. "Paddy Backwards" (country man visits city theme) and references there
File: GrD81764

Shoo Fly


DESCRIPTION: "I think I hear the angels sing (x3), The angels now are on the wing. I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star (x2)." "Shoo fly, don't bother me (x3), For I just been on a merry spree." (or "belong to Company G," or the like).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: nonballad nonsense playparty religious
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 273, "Shoo Fly" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 190-193, "Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 55-56, "Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 200, (no title) (1 fragment, the "Company G" version)
Silber-FSWB, p. 388, "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" (1 text)
ST R273 (Full)
Roud #3433
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "Sho' Fly Don't Bother Me" (Vocalion 5010, 1926)
Pete Seeger, "Shoo Fly" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
Jimmy Yates' Boll Weevils, "Shoo Fly!" (Victor 21753, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blue-Tail Fly" [Laws I19] (chorus lyrics)
NOTES: Variously attributed. The 1869 sheet credits the words to Billy Reeves and the music to Frank Campbell. Another 1869 publication gives the author as Thomas Brigham Bishop. The latter, published by Bishop himself, claims that the piece comes from "the negro farce the 'Cook.'" The corroborative evidence for the claims is thin. - RBW
File: R273

Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me


See Shoo Fly (File: R273)

Shoo, Shoo, Shoo-lye


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

Shoofly, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees an old woman lamenting, "Ochone! sure I'm nearly distracted! For it's down by the Shoofly they cut a bad vein...." With all the local mines closed, she and her family are in debt and out of work. She can only hope conditions improve
AUTHOR: Felix O'Hare
EARLIEST DATE: 1949
KEYWORDS: hardtimes mining
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1871 - Closing of the mine at Valley Furnace (in the Schuylkill Valley). The Shoofly colliery closed at about the same time.
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scott-BoA, pp. 276-278, "The Shoofly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7720
File: SBoA276

Shoot the Buffalo


DESCRIPTION: Playparty/dance tune: "And it's ladies to the center and it's gents around the row, And we'll rally round the canebrake and shoot the buffalo." Tales of courting and spitting tobacco
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (JAFL 24)
KEYWORDS: playparty dancing animal nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Randolph 523, "Shoot the Buffalo" (2 texts plus 4 excerpts, 1 tune)
Hudson 149, pp. 297-298, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text)
Fuson, p. 165, "Chase the Buffalo" (1 text)
Cambiaire, p. 143, "Hunting Ballad (We'll Shoot the Buffalo)" (1 text)
SharpAp 262, "Chase the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 32, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 296-297, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 98, "Shoot the Buffalo" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 96, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 563, "We'll Hunt the Buffalo!" (1 text, 1 tune, with the chorus of "Shoot the Buffalo" and lyrics from "The Lovely Ohio")
Roud #3644
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hunt the Buffalo
File: R523

Shoot the Buffalo (II), The


See Lovely Ohio, The (File: LoF039)

Shoot Your Dice and Have Your Fun


DESCRIPTION: "Shoot your dice and have your fun, I'll have mine when the police come. Police come, I didn't want to go; I knocked him in the head wid a forty-fo'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: gambling police
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 51, "Shoot Your Dice and Have Your Fun" (1 short text)
Roud #7853
File: Br3051

Shootin' Creek


See Cripple Creek (I) (File: San320)

Shooting Goschen's Cocks Up


See Row-Dow-Dow (File: K354)

Shooting of Bailey the Alleged Informer, The


DESCRIPTION: Bailey informs in December about concealed arms. Those he informed on are now in jail. "On Saturday night he met his fate All by a pistol volley, By some one unknown, who did him hate, Down in Skipper's Alley." "Mind what you say." Don't be an informer.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: warning betrayal murder prison revenge
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb 25, 1882 - Bernard Bailey shot dead in Dublin (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 82, "A New Song on the Shooting of Bailey the Alleged Informer" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(148), "A New Song on the Shooting of Bailey the 'Alleged informer'," unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Zimmermann: No arrest was made. The Irish Republican Brotherhood is assumed behind the killing. - BS
One of the reasons for British success in Ireland was that the Irish never had any weapons. In the 1798, the British often found one or two pieces of artillery sufficient to disperse a force of rebels, who would have only a few muskets and little ammunition for what they had. As late as 1916 and the Casemate Affair, Irish nationalists were still trying to smuggle in guns. Naturally they were not too happy with people who cost them any part of their small collections. - RBW
File: Zimm082

Shooting of His Dear


See Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)

Shooting of the Bawks, The


DESCRIPTION: The narrator protests a law against killing bawks during the summer when they are most plentiful. He wonders how he is going to feed his family and sarcastically conjectures that the authorities will now provide the people with meat.
AUTHOR: A.R. Scammell
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: recitation law bird hunting
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Doyle2, p. 79, "The Shooting of the Bawks" (1 text)
Roud #7309
NOTES: The author, Arthur Reginald Scammell, has written many poems, songs and even stories with Newfoundland themes. One of his more famous songs is "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground." Some collections of his works include: My Newfoundland: Stories, Poems, Songs (St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications, 1988) and Newfoundland Echoes (St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications, 1988). Collected Works of A. R. Scammell was also published by Harry Cuff in 1990.
Although I haven't been able to find the exact equivalent for the "bawk" it can be gathered from the song that it is a seabird present only in summer. Other birds mentioned are the "tur" which is related to the auk, "noddy" which is a kind of tern or small gull and tickleace which is another kind of gull. The poem gives instructions to sing it to the tune of "The Wearin' o' the Green." - SH
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary lists "bawk" as a Newfoundlander term, of unknown origin, for the Greater Shearwater. The Greater Shearwater is a fairly large bird which often occurs in flocks and frequently follows ships; they are therefore tempting targets. They breed in November-January in the Tristan da Cunha islands (far down in the south Atlantic, at about the latitude of Buenos Aires but roughly half way between Africa and South America), then spend the North American summer months off the American east coast. - PJS, RBW
I do not know the reason for the Canadian ban on shooting bawks, but as their breeding grounds are small and under threat by man, and their summer feeding grounds are being heavily fished, I suspect it is to protect the species. - RBW
File: Doy079

Shooting Star, The


DESCRIPTION: A Halifax policeman is murdered on board of the Shooting Star. He has a summons for the captain but sailor Burdell stabs him. The captain and ship get away but "they caught Burdel at Boston and gave him fourteen years"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: murder prison ship police sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Smith/Hatt, pp. 74-75, "The Shooting Star" (1 text)
Roud #1973
NOTES: "The affair of the 'Shooting Star' took place in Halifax, November 1861. Policeman's name was Gardner ... stabbed by Edgar Burdell.... vessel ... ran ashore below George's Island & Burdell was arrested." (Source: Smith/Hatt) - BS
File: SmHa074

Shore Around the Grog


See Shove Around the Grog (File: FSC175)

Shores of Botany Bay, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I'm on my way down to the quay, Where a big ship now does lay...." When the singer's boss tells him he will have to work harder to keep his job, Pat gives it up and heads for Australia. He rejoices to get away from brickwork.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: work Australia emigration
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 271-272, "The Shores of Botany Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA271

Shores of Coolough Bay, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer "was one of the Urhan football team." "Now we are scattered far and wide from the shores of Coolough Bay". He has worked at many jobs in Ireland, Canada and, now, in the US. Best of all is the Shores of Coolough Bay. He is saving to return.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: home return travel sports America Canada Ireland emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OCanainn, pp. 100-101, "The Shores of Coolough Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OCanainn: "This is a song about the Urban football teams of 1927, 28 and 29, who won the Cork County Intermediate Championships. Joe Murphy sang the song and thought it had been composed in New York by Maurice Power. Coolough Bay is an inlet off Kenmare Bay."
The singer lists some of his many activities since ending his football days: fishing with a seine-boat crew and enjoying dances at Coolough Bay; then mining, cowboying and working in a lumber shop. - BS
File: OCan100

Shores of Michigan, The


See The Loss of the Antelope (File: RcLoOTAn)

Shores of Sweet Kenbane, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer rambles out and sits down to look at Kenbane. He will set his slight skills to the task of praising it. He describes the birds, fish, shores, castle, etc. In one cottage dwells a beautiful girl; he blesses the day he found her and Kenbane
AUTHOR: Dan White?
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love home rambling
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H648, p. 167, "The Shores of Sweet Kenbane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13479
File: HHH648

Short Jacket


See The Maid in Sorrow (Short Jacket) [Laws N12] (File: LN12)

Short Jacket and White Trousers


See The Maid in Sorrow (Short Jacket) [Laws N12] (File: LN12)

Short Life of Trouble


DESCRIPTION: "Short life of trouble, A few more words apart, A short life of trouble, dear girl, For a boy with a broken heart." The singer reminds the girl that she promised to marry him. He takes the train out of town and/or hopes the grave will be his home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (recording, Burnett & Rutherford)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal death
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 127, "Pass the Drunkard By" (1 text, with a first verse in which the girl describes Mama's advice against drunkards but otherwise like the usual versions)
ST RcSLOT (Full)
Roud #3418
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "Short Life of Trouble" (Paramount 3290, 1931)
[Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "Short Life of Trouble" (Perfect 12800/Conqueror 8149, 1932)
Blue Sky Boys, "Short Life of Trouble" (Bluebird B-8829, 1941)
Burnett & Rutherford, "A Short Life of Trouble" (Columbia 15133-D, 1927; rec. 1926; on BurnRuth01)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Short Life of Trouble" (Victor V-40105, 1928; on GraysonWhitter01, LostProv1)
Buell Kazee, "Short Life of Trouble" (Brunswick 214, 1928; on KMM)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers (or Wade Mainer), "Short Life and It's Trouble" (Bluebird B-6936, 1937)
Riley Puckett, "Short Life of Trouble" (Decca 5442, 1937)
Doc Watson & Arnold Watson, "A Short Life of Trouble" (on WatsonAshley01)
File: RcSLOT

Short'nin' Bread


See Shortenin' Bread (File: R255)

Shortenin' Bread


DESCRIPTION: The mother will make shortening bread. Its benefits, and the extent to which children like it, may be described. (The singer steals the skillet and the bread, and winds up in jail and faced with a fine.) Often in dialect, with assorted floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (JAFL 28)
KEYWORDS: food prison robbery
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 255, "Shortenin' Bread" (2 texts, 1 tune)
BrownIII 461, "Short'nin' Bread" (2 texts plus 7 fragments and 1 excerpt; some of the fragments, especially "I," may be associated with some other song)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 149-153, "Short'nin Bread," "Short'nin' Bread," (no title), "Put on the Skillet" (4 texts plus some odds and ends, 3 tunes; it's possible that some of the fragments are something else)
Lomax-FSNA 267, "Shortenin' Bread" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 234-236, "Shortenin' Bread" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 160, "(Shortnin' Bread)" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 497-498+, "Short'nin' Bread"
Roud #4209
RECORDINGS:
Cherokee Ramblers, "Shortenin' Bread" (Decca 5162, 1935)
Emma Jane Davis, "Shortenin' Bread" (AFS 6644 A1, 1942)
Dykes Magic City Trio, "Shortening Bread" (Brunswick 125, 1927)
Ora Dell Graham, "Shortenin' Bread" (AFS, 1940; on LCTreas)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Shortenin' Bread" (OKeh 45112, 1927)
Bobby Leecan's Need-More Band, "Shortnin' Bread" (Victor 20853, 1927)
Reaves White County Ramblers, "Shortening Bread" (Vocalion 5218, 1928; on TimesAint05)
Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, "Shortening Bread" (Columbia 15123-D, 1927; rec. 1926)
Conrad Thibaud, "Shortnin' Bread" (Victor 24404, 1933)
Sonny Terry [pseud., Saunders Terrell], "Shortnin' Bread" (on Terry 01)
Tweedy Brothers, "Shortenin' Bread" (Supertone 9174, 1928)
Henry Whitter, "Hop Light Ladies and Shortenin' Bread" (OKeh 40064, 1924)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Run, Nigger, Run" (tune)
NOTES: Fuld reports that this tune appeared in 1915 (E. C. Perrow in the April-June 1915 JAF) under the title "Shortened Bread." Words and music first appear together in Scarborough, 1925, but are probably older. - RBW
File: R255

Shorty George


DESCRIPTION: "Shorty George, he ain't no friend of mine... Taken all de women an' leave de men behind." (The singer goes bad as an orphan child. He finds a girl, but they go separate ways.) He learns his girl/mother is sick and arrives for her sad funeral
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (recording, James "Iron Head" Baker)
KEYWORDS: orphan love death burial mother prison prisoner train
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 118-123, "Shorty George" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 23, "Shorty George" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 199-201, "Shorty George" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 79, "Shorty George" (1 text)
DT, SHORTGEO SHORTGE2*
Roud #10055
RECORDINGS:
James "Iron Head" Baker, "Shorty George" (AFS 210B, 1933) (AFS 202 A2, 1934; on LC53)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "He Was a Friend of Mine"
NOTES: "Shorty George" is reported to be the name of the train that carried convicts' wives and sweethearts to and from the penitentiary for conjugal visits. - PJS, (RBW)
This legend, derives from the Lomax collections of this song. It is interesting to note that Jackson's informants knew of the train they called "Shorty George," but it did not come to the prison; it was merely a very small train (typically three cars) which passed precisely at 3:35. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LxU023

Shot My Pistol in de Heart of Town


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Lawd, Shot my pistol In de heart of town. Lawd, de big chief hollered, 'Doncha blow me down.'" The singer (?) looks for his girls who "lef' here runnin'." He describes his love of cards. The story is not coherent
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Odum & Johnson)
KEYWORDS: cards separation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 52-53, "Shot My Pistol in de Heart of Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15570
File: LxA052

Should A Been on the River in 1910


DESCRIPTION: (After an opening from "Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos" or "Go Down, Old Hannah," about driving women like men), the singer recalls a partner doing 99 years, recalls that his girl promised to visit but did not, and promises to "be around some day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recorded from Arthur "Lightning" Sherrod by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 77-75, "Should A Been on the River in 1910" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: JDM073

Shout Along and Pray Along


DESCRIPTION: "Shout along and pray along, ye Heaven-bound soldiers! Shout along and pray along, I'm on my way! Pray on, (sisters/fathers/mothers/children", and don't get weary; Never get tired of serving the Lord. Shout along and pray along...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 633, "Shout Along and Pray Along" (1 text)
Roud #11932
File: Br3633

Shout Lula


DESCRIPTION: Dance tune "Shout Lulu, shout shout/What in the world you shoutin' about?" "How many nickels does it take/To see little Lulu's body shake?/It takes a nickel and it takes a dime/To see little Lulu cut her shine"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis)
KEYWORDS: sex money dancing bawdy dancetune nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SharpAp 201, "Lulie" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #4202
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Shout Little Lulu" (on Ashley01)
Clarence Ashley & Jack Burchett, "Shout Lulu" (on WatsonAshley01)
Homer Brierhopper, "Little Lulie" (Decca 5615, c. 1938)
W. Guy Bruce, "Shout Lulu" (on FolkVisions1)
Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis, "Shout Lou" (Columbia 146-D, 1924)
Elizabeth Cotten, "Oh Miss Lulie Gal" (on Cotten02)
Rufus Crisp, "Shout, Little Lulie" (on Crisp01)
Carver Boys, "Sleeping Lula" (Paramount 3199, 1930)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Shout Lula" (Gennett 6373/Champion 15501 [as by Norman Gayle], 1928)
Dick Justice, "Little Lulie" (Brunswick 336, 1929)
File: RcShLulu

Shout On, Children


DESCRIPTION: "Shout on, children, you never die; Glory hallelujah! You in the Lord and the Lord in you; Glory hallelujah." "Shout and pray both night and day, How can you die, you in the Lord?" "Come on, children, let's go home; Oh I'm so glad you're in the Lord."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 60, "Shout On, Children" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12020
File: AWG060A

Shout, Shout, We're Gaining Ground


DESCRIPTION: "Shout, shout, we're gaining ground, Oh glory hallelujah, For the gospel ship is sailing by, Oh glory hallelujah!" "Shout, shout... For the grace of God is coming down" "It has come down and it will come down" "The Devil's mad and I am glad"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 633, "Shout, Shout, We're Gaining Ground" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7561
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gospel Ship (I)" (lyics)
File: R633

Shove Around the Grog


DESCRIPTION: Brief stories of bringing lumber downriver. Chorus: "Shove [or "Shore"] around the grog, boys, Chorus around the room; We are the boys that fear no noise, Although we're far from home."
AUTHOR: Boney Quillan ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: logger river
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 175, "Shore Around the Grog" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC175 (Partial)
File: FSC175

Shovellin' Iron Ore


See The Great American Bum (Three Jolly Bums) (File: FaE192)

Shoving Corduroy


DESCRIPTION: The singer, a "swamper," is building corduroy roads. He describes his work, the pay, and an incident where a workmate falls into a boghole. Finally, he expresses a desire for a pretty woman, and says he'll do anything to please her -- even shove corduroy.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work courting
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 25, "Shoving Corduroy" (1 text)
Roud #8859
NOTES: A corduroy road was built by laying logs parallel to one another to make a roadway across a swamp. [There is some dispute about whether the roads or the fabric were named first, although the fabric is more likely. - RBW]
According to Beck, the swamper usually "cleared the underbrush and other obstructions for the teamster, or so that logs could be skidded to their destination." - PJS
File: Be025

Show Me the Man Who Never Done Wrong


See Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own) (File: R393)

Show Me the Way to Go Home, Babe


DESCRIPTION: A lament on the effects of drinking and or rambling, perhaps with a request for forgiveness and/or floating blues lyrics. The whole is held together (if it is) by the chorus "Show me way to go home." The singer may have been drunk for many months
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink home floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 37, "Show Me the Way to Go Home, Babe" (7 short texts plus a single line fragment)
Roud #7859
RECORDINGS:
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Show Me the Way to Go Home" (Columbia 15404-D, 1929)
Henry Whitter & Fiddler Joe [Samuels], "Show Me the Way to Go Home" (OKeh 45061, 1926)
File: Br3037

Show Pity, Lord (Supplication)


DESCRIPTION: "Show pity, Lord! Oh Lord, forgive! Let a repentant sinner live!" The singer abjectly confesses fault: "My crimes are great but can't surpass The power and glory of thy grace." The singer confidently expects salvation
AUTHOR: Words: Watts ? (to the tune "Windham?")
EARLIEST DATE: 1860 (Harmona Sacra)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 631, "Show Pity, Lord" (1 short text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Roud #7559
SAME TUNE:
Broad is the Road That Leads to Death (Windham) (Darling-NAS, p. 263)
File: R631

Shrew Wife, The


See What Do You Think of My Darling? (File: Dib102)

Shu Lady


DESCRIPTION: Incoherent account, with many floating insertions, of an attack on Chandler's fish-dyke. The people who did the damage are brought to trial and forced to sell their cows to pay the fines. The song objects to the Freemason jury
AUTHOR: Ms. (?) Lawless?
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: fishing trial punishment
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 311, "Shu Lady" (1 text)
Roud #6646
File: BrII311

Shuck Corn, Shell Corn


DESCRIPTION: "Shuck corn, shell corn, Carry corn to mill. Grind de meal, gimme de husk, (Bake/break) de bread, gimme de crust, Fry de meat, gimme de skin -- And dat's de way to bring 'em in. Won't you git up, old horse, I'm on de road to Brighton."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: work food nonballad horse
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 200, "Shuck Corn, Shell Corn" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
File: Br3200

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


DESCRIPTION: The girl laments for her love, sent (to France) as a soldier. She says she will cry till "every tear would turn a mill." She will sell her spinning wheel to arm him. She will dye her clothes red and "round the world... beg for bread" till he returns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1892
KEYWORDS: loneliness separation foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1107, "Shule Agra" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Belden, pp. 281-282, "Shule Aroon" (1 text)
Randolph 107, "Shule, Shule" (3 texts, 1 tune, though "A" is mixed with "Ease that Trouble in the Mind" or "The Swapping Boy" or some such, "B" is a nonsense fragment, and "C" is largely floating material); also probably the "A" fragment of 455, "When I Get on Yonder Hill" (2 texts)
Eddy 40, "Putnam's Hill" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
BrownII 127, "Shule Aroon" (1 fragment, so short that it might just be nonsense though it is probably this song)
Hudson 130, pp. 275-276, "Shule Aron" (1 text, short and even more damaged than usual, to which is prefixed the rhyme "Snail, snail, come out of your hole, Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal.")
SharpAp 93, "Putman's Hill" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 110, "Shule Aroon" (1 text)
Lehr/Best 96, "Siul a Ghra" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 347, "Shule Agra" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 131, "I Dyed My Petticoat Red" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 32-35, "Siubhal a Gradh (Come, My Love, Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 35, "Johnny Has Gone far a Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 20, "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 298-299, "Shoo, Shoo, Shoo-lye" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN199 "As from Newcastle I did pass" (listed as "Traditional? Ancestor of Scots 'Dicky Macphalion' and Irish 'Shule Aroon'")
Silber-FSWB, p. 280, "Buttermilk Hill" (1 text)
DT, SHULARN1* (SHULARN2*) SHULARN3 SHULARN4
Roud #911
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "Suil a Gra" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
Pearl Jacobs Borusky, "I'll Sell My Hat, I'll Sell My Coat" (AFS, 1940; on LC55)
Porter Brigley, "I Died My Petticoat Red" (on MRHCreighton)
Robert Cinnamond, "Shule Agra" (on IRRCinnamond03)
Elizabeth Cronin, "Shule Aroon" (on FSB1)
Chubby Parker, "Bib-A-Lollie-Boo" (Gennett 6077/Silvertone 5012, 1927; Supertone 9188, 1928) (Conqueror 7891, 1931)
Pete Seeger, "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" (on PeteSeeger31)
Art Thieme, "Bibble-a-la-doo" (on Thieme04)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Song of the Pinewoods" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: In its earliest forms this song seems to have been simply a girl's lament for her departed lover. In many American versions (Randolph's 107 A and C, Eddy's D) we find unrelated stanzas about the girl's "very cross" father.
Scott (following Joyce) theorizes that the song arises out of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Irish supported James II, and were defeated at the Boyne. William III, who defeated James, offered forgiveness to the rebels who would swear loyalty to him, but many preferred exile. The only evidence for this theory, at least in English versions, seems to be the lines "But now my love has gone to France, To try his fortune to advance...."
It's hard to tell how much of this song was originally Gaelic. Although there are Gaelic choruses (e.g. from Barry, in JAFL XXII 15; Connie Dover's modern recording is as close to this as makes no difference), I've never heard a truly traditional Gaelic verse, and even the chorus is usually only a mangled imitation of Gaelic. (Of course, it doesn't help that Gaelic spelling is far from standardized.) - RBW
The Thieme recording retains only the tune, chorus and two verses of "Shule Agra"; otherwise, it's humorous floaters. - PJS
For Hudson 130 the inserted rhyme is the first verse of Opie-Oxford2 482, "Snail, snail" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is c.1744). [The stanza is also found in Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #471, p. 210). - RBW]
One of two broadsides for this ballad as "Shule Agra"/"Johnny Is Gone for a Soldier" at Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue is printed in New York c.1860, shelfmark Harding B.18(326).
See three "Shule Agra"/"Johnny Is Gone for a Soldier" broadsides [America Singing: digital id sb40500a/as201910/cw103140] at the Library of Congress American Memory site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R107

Shule Aron


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

Shule Aroon


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

Shulls Mills


DESCRIPTION: The singer prepares to return to Shulls Mills. He talks of his relations with the girls, carried out largely on the basis of cash up front, because "the girls... think I'm purty damn mean." He concludes, "When I gets my pay, Hain't gonna work a-tall."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: logger whore
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 134, "Shulls Mills" (1 text, 1 tune; the text is composite though all verses come from Frank Proffitt)
ST Wa134 (Partial)
Roud #5735
File: Wa134

Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek


DESCRIPTION: (Eleven) miners, trapped in the mines of Coal Creek, resign themselves to death but place their trust in Jesus. Their lamps are flickering, their food is almost gone; they say farewell to their wives and children, saying they will meet them in heaven
AUTHOR: Probably Green Bailey, though Darling lists it as by Norman Gilford
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Green Bailey under the pseudonym Dick Bell)
KEYWORDS: mining death farewell
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 9, 1911 - The Coal Creek explosion
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Darling-NAS, pp. 367-368, "Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek" (1 text)
Roud #844
RECORDINGS:
Dick Bell [pseud. for Green Bailey], "Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek" (Challenge 425, 1928; on KMM)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek" (on NLCR15, NLCRCD2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cross Mountain Explosion (Coal Creek Disaster)" [Laws G9] (subject)
NOTES: The Coal Creek explosion of 1911 actually involved more than 100 miners; I am not entirely certain that it is the event described here (there was another disaster in 1902). But, of course, this song could be about certain of the trapped miners rather than the whole gang.
Roud seemingly lumps this with Laws G9, but it is patently a different song. - RBW
File: RcSUIMCC

Shutting of the Gates of Derry by the Apprentice Boys of Derry


See Derry Walls Away (File: OrLa006)

Shutting of the Gates of Derry, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls "how, in olden time, ... a band of boys closed the gates and "Antrim's 'Red-shank'd' crew retreats." In beseiged Derry "pestillence held awful sway - Gaunt famine reigned... till brave Downing" saved the city.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1869 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(603))
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls "how, in olden time, Boys gave fame to Derry" "This famed date in Fifty-eight, Foemen crossed the Ferry, O! And with yells of fiendish hate, Sought to enter Derry, O!" But a band of boys closed the gates and "Antrim's 'Red-shank'd' crew retreats." "James, their craven king" sent instructions to "his Popish Parliament" in Dublin to "raze the walls of Derry" In Derry "pestillence held awful sway - Gaunt famine reigned ... till brave Downing" saved the city. "Brave Thirteen, who closed the Gate In December hoary, O. In the Keep of Eighty-Eight Hallowed with your glory O"
KEYWORDS: battle rescue death starvation Ireland patriotic youth
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 7, 1688 - The "Apprentice Boys" close the Londonderry gates against Lord Antrim's "Redshanks"
Jul 28, 1689 - Browning's ships break the 105 day siege of Derry (source: Cecil Kilpatrick, "The Siege of Derry: A City of Refuge" at the Canada-Ulster Heritage site)
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(603), "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry" ("Brothers, up! the pealing chime"), J. Moore (Belfast), 1852-1868
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "No Surrender (I)" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "No Surrender (II)" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "Derry Walls Away" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "Anniversary of the Shutting of the Gates of Derry" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "The Relief of Derry" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "The Maiden City" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "Derry's Walls" (subject: The Siege of Derry)
cf. "The Gates of Londonderry" (subject; The Siege of Derry)
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(603) is the basis for the description. The erroneous reference to [16]58 in the second verse is corrected to [16]88 in the last. - BS
The Siege of Londonderry was one of those defining moments in Irish history, though it didn't seem like a particularly big deal at the time. It was defining for the way it was remembered.
The context is the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (for which see, e.g., "What's the Rhyme to Porringer?" and "The Vicar of Bray"). The Catholic James II had been driven off the English throne, replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Protestant husband (and first cousin) William III of Orange. But this was just a small part of the war between France and most of the rest of Europe; the French were supporting James in order to distract the British.
And James decided to take advantage of his support in Ireland, still mostly Catholic. He would not himself arrive until March 1689, but his followers were active. According to Fry/Fry, pp. 159-160, "Londonderry had shown its Protestant colours as early as September 1688, when the apprentices, the working lads of the city, had closed the gates against the Catholic earl of Antrim and his men; later, when Tyrconnell [James's Lord Deputy of Ireland, for whom see 'Lilliburlero'] had most unwisely withdrawn whole regiments from the north, the Protestant gentry had raised levies in support of William. Tyrconnell had defeated them in a confused engagement known as the 'break of Dromore,' whereupon those who could not get sea passage away from the country had crowded as refugees into the garrison town of Enniskillen, in Fermanagh, and into Londonderry. James, beneath the city walls, called repeatedly upon the citizens to surrender, promising them a free pardon for their rebellion."
"The city's thirty thouand civiliians were reduced to eating rats, but when the city's commander, Robert Lundy, seemed ready to surrender, the populace turned on him. The cry of the besieged city was 'No Surrender!' It would become a Protestant motto" (Golway, pp. 30-31).
Fry/Fry, p. 160: "The besiegers had no chance of taking the city by assault. James'[s] troops were untried and ill-equipped; they had no spades and shovels for mining the city walls, and no guns heavy enough to breach them. They could only wait until the defenders were starved into submission. Refugees had swelled the population to 30,000 and food supplies soon began to run out; people were dying of starvation and the garrison was too weak to fight.... Then, in the middle of June, six weeks after the siege had begun, an English fleet arrived in Lough Foyle to relieve the city."
The lough, however, had been blocked by James's troops, so it was six weeks before the ships were able to reach the city. Once they did, though, that was the end of the fifteen-week siege (Wallace, p. 56); with food now available, the Catholic army saw no point in continuing the siege. While this was going on, the rest of Ireland started to split into Catholic and Protestant segments, and finally William III showed up, and both sides headed for the Boyne, the subject of so many Irish songs.
According to Bardon, pp. 157-158, "Derry was the last walled city to be built in western europe. The siege of 105 days was the last great siege in British history, and the most renowned. 'Oh! to her the loud acclamations o the garrison soldiers round the Walls when the ships came to the Quay,' Ash wrote in his diary.'...The Lord, who has preserved this city from the Enemy, I hope will always keep it to the Protestants.' For the Protestants of Ulster this epic defence gave inspiration for more than three centuries to come."
You can generally tell the perspective of a commentator by whether he refers to the city as Derry (the Catholic title) or Londonderry (Protestant). I've called it Londonderry because, at this particular time, the Protestants were defending it. Though the area is in fact mostly Catholic.
For more background on the siege, see "Derry Walls Away." - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: BrdSGD

Si Hubbard (Hey Rube)


DESCRIPTION: Two farm boys decide to visit the circus. They raise the money and go in to see the sights. After volunteering to take part in various escapades, they end up being carried off by a balloon. When at last they land, they wind up in jail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: humorous farming technology prison
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, pp. 350-352, "Si Hubbard" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST San350 (Full)
NOTES: Another piece which may owe more to Sandburg's imagination than to tradition. Even Sandburg says that it came, indirectly, from a carnival barker. - RBW
File: San350

Si j'avais le Bateau (If I had the Boat)


DESCRIPTION: French. If I had the boat which my father had given me I could cross the water and the sea without boat. If I had children who would not call me mom I would often ask God that they would die suddenly. To the proprietor's honor, let's pop the cork.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage drink humorous nonballad nonsense
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 96-97, "Si J'Avais le Bateau" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea096

Si J'Etais Petite Alouette Grise (If I Were Small Gray Lark)


DESCRIPTION: French. A young drummer/sailor returns from war. He asks a king's daughter to be his girl. She says he must convince the king he is very rich, which he does. The king agrees. The drummer/sailor thanks the king but leaves: he has prettier girls at home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage greed courting rejection gold father sailor royalty
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, p. 889, "Si J'Etais Petite Alouette Grise" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Trois Jeunes Tambours (Three Young Drummers)
Une Jeune Tambour (A Young Drummer)
Belle Alouette Grise (Beautiful Grey Lark)
NOTES: This ballad is common on the internet as "Trois Jeunes Tambours" -- for example at the site of "La Caverne de Cat."
The discussion of wealth is about three ships owned by the drummer/sailor:I have three ships on the sea: one has a cargo of gold, one has a cargo of pearls [or jewels], and the third is for my girl friend. The conversation about the ships may be between the drummer/sailor and the king's daughter.
The endings spoken to the king by the protagonist vary between: (1) Your daughter is something special (2) In my country there are prettier girls. - BS
File: Pea889

Sic a Wife as Willie Had (Willie Wastle)


DESCRIPTION: "Willie Wastle dwalt on Tweed." I "wadna gie a button" for his wife. "Tinker Maggie was her mither." One eye, few teeth, limping leg, hump on back and breast. Her actions are as crude as her looks. "Sic a wife as Willie had."
AUTHOR: Robert Burns
EARLIEST DATE: 1792 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad wife
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 132, "Sic a Wife As Willie Had" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WASTLE
Roud #2702
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4242), "Willie Wastle," W. Dixon (Workington), n.d.
NOTES: Somewhere in the depths of my memory, there is a vague memory of a children's rhyme about Wullie Wastle, King of the Castle. The Opies print a different version as a form of Opie-Oxford2, #287, "I'm the king of the castle." Whether there is a relationship between that and this I do not know. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: CrMa132

Sick, Sick


See Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon [Child 178] (File: C178)

Sidewalks of New York


DESCRIPTION: Known by its chorus: "East side, west side, all around the town, The tots sang Ring-a-Rosie, London Bridge is falling down...." The verses describe courting in New York, and wax nostalgic for the days when the singer was one of those doing the courting
AUTHOR: Words: James W. Blake / Music: Charles B. Lawlor
EARLIEST DATE: 1894 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: courting game children
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 48, "Sidewalks of New York" (1 text)
Gilbert, p. 257, "The Sidewalks of New York" (1 text)
Fuld, pp. 499-500, "The Sidewalks of New York"
DT, SIDWLKNY
RECORDINGS:
Abner Burkhardt, "The Sidewalks of New York" (Champion 15279, 1927)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Sidewalks of New York" (Columbia 437-D, 1925; Columbia 15256-D, 1928 [as Al Craver])
George Gaskin, "Sidewalks of New York" (Berliner 0959, 1895)
Andrew Jenkins & Carson Robison, "Sidewalks of New York" (OKeh 45232, 1928)
Billy Jones, "The Sidewalks of New York" (Edison 51340, 1924)
SAME TUNE:
East Side, West Side (Harvesting Song) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 105)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
East Side, West Side
NOTES: For some inexplicable reason, this was Al Smith's 1928 presidential campaign song. - RBW
Well, Smith *was* the governor of New York. Of course, rubbing that in didn't endear him to the rest of the country, and anti-Catholic bigotry helped do him in. - PJS
Incidentally, the flip side of the Dalhart recording was "Al Smith for President." I don't know whether that's cause or effect. It's interesting to note that Herbert Hoover doesn't seem to have made any influence on oral tradition, but in addition to the Dalhart recording, Dave Macon sang an Al Smith song. - RBW
File: Gil257

Sidney Allen [Laws E5]


DESCRIPTION: The Allen Family is in court; Sidney and the others break out by shooting the judge and starting a gunfight in the court. Recaptured and brought home, he is sentenced to a long prison term instead of being executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: prison fight trial feud
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1912 - Trial of the Allen family
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws E5, "Sidney Allen"
Hudson 104, pp. 242-243, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 140, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', p. 155, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 113, "Hillsville, Virginia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 254-255, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 191-192, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
DT 777, SIDALLEN
Roud #612
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Sydney Allen" (Columbia 15042-D, 1925) (Domino 3642, 1925; Banner 1672, 1926)
Henry Whitter, "Sydney Allen" (OKeh 40109, 1924)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] (meter)
cf. "Claude Allen" [Laws E6] (subject)
NOTES: The members of the Allen family seem to have been the backest of backwoodsmen. Floyd Allen was sentenced to a year in prison by Judge Thornton L. Massie, whereupon the whole family started shooting and made their escape. Later captured, Claud (no e, according to contemporary sources) and Floyd were eventually executed; Sidney ("Sidna") was sentenced to prison. - RBW
File: LE05

Siege of Moscow, The


See Sandy and Nap (File: GrD1149)

Siege of Plattsburg, The


DESCRIPTION: "Back side of Albany stands Lake Champlain." "On Lake Champlain Uncle Sam set his boats, And Captain McDonough to sail 'em." The British come to attack Plattsburg, but scare off the British governor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Newspaper, "Brother Johnathan")
KEYWORDS: war battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug/Sept 1814 - Plattsburg campaign. As part of a three-pronged attack strategy (the other prongs being at Chesapeake Bay and the lower Mississippi), a British army of 11,000 regulars led by General Sir George Prevost and a naval force under Captain George Downie attack Lake Champlain.
Sept 6, 1814 - The British army reaches Plattsburg and awaits the navy
Sept 11, 1814 - Battle of Plattsburg. An American naval squadron under Captain Thomas Macdonough (1783-1825) defeats the British force in a fierce contest with very high casualties, compelling the British fleet to retreat in disorder. The British army, though under no military compulsion, retreats as well.
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 510-512, "Siege of Plattsburg" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15541
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of Champlain" (subject)
NOTES: In 1814, with Napoleon temporarily under control after the Battle of Leipzig and, later, his abdication, the British decided to finally finish off the War of 1812 with the Americans. They decided on a three-pronged attack -- the northern force starting from the Great Lakes, the center heading for Washington D.C., and the southern attack being made on New Orleans.
Considering that the British would have more force available than ever before (because they could use the ships and men that had been fighting Napoleon), and that they had generally had the best of it to that time even with their minimal forces -- pushing back every American attack on Canada and eventually driving most of the small American fleet off the seas -- the results were disastrously bad.
Only the middle assault had any success, when Robert Ross's men burned many of the government buildings in Washington. Their move toward Baltimore, however, was stopped at the siege of Fort McHenry, commemorated in "The Star Spangled Banner."
The Battle of New Orleans (for which see, e.g., "The Hunters of Kentucky" and "The Battle of New Orleans" [Laws A7]) resulted in the death of the slow-moving British commander Pakenham and the defeat of his force. To be sure, that assault followed the attack on Baltimore -- and the peace treaty.
Plattsburg, though, was the real disaster, because the British had every advantage and managed to lose anyway.
General Sir George Prevost, the British commander-in-chief in Canada (and before that at varuous points around the Caribbean; Heidler/Heidler, p. 428) had done a good job to this point, but he had never actually commanded in the field; Isaac Brock had won the great victories of 1812 (see "The Battle of Queenston Heights" and "Brave General Brock" [Laws A22]), and Gordon Drummond had been field commander at Lundy's Lane in 1814 (see "The Battle of Bridgewater"). With the British finally going on the offensive now that extra troops were available, Prevost himself took charge.
Orders from London told him to advance toward Lake Champlain, which would among other things split Federalist New England (which had opposed the war and was still trying to trade with the British) from the more pro-war West and South (Borneman, pp. 199-200). He had every advantage, too: The Americans, expecting more action on the Niagara front, had sent roughly half of the forces they had had in the Champlain area to the Niagara (Hickey, p. 190).
Prevost was hardly enthusiastic. Even though he had some 10,000 troops at his disposal (Jameson says 14,000), all regulars, meaning that he could sweep aside any force the Americans could put up, he wanted his ships to control the rivers. As a result, he dawdled (Borneman, p. 201). This even though the Americans had sent most of their available forces to Sackets Harbor to defend against a British thrust that never materialized (Heidler/Heidler, p. 420). All the Americans had left in the Champlain region was a few thousand soldiers under Brigadier General Alexander Macomb (whose wife would eventually be credited with writing another song about this battle, "The Banks of Champlain"), plus the naval forces that 31-year-old Master Commander Thomas Macdonough could scrape up. These were inferior to the British forces (the British had captured two of the stronger American ships in 1813, giving them naval superiority; Hickey, p. 190), but Macdonough was to handle them brilliantly, and Prevost would do the rest.
Each fleet had one big vessel at Lake Champlain: The Americans had a 700-tonner named Saratoga, with 26 guns; the British had the strongest ship on the lake in the 1200-ton, 37-gun Confiance -- which was, however, so new that workmen were still aboard her as she headed up Lake Champlain! (Hickey, p. 190). Confiance was supported by the 16-gun Linnet and the 11-gun sloops Chub and Finch (the ships taken from the Americans the year before). Saratoga's consorts were the 20-gun Eagle, the 17-gun Ticonderoga, the 7-gun Preble, and a bunch of one-gun and two-gun small fry (the British had some of those, too; see Borneman, pp. 205-206). The weight of broadide was about even, but the British ships, with more long guns, were much better for an action on open water (Heidler/Heidler, p. 420).
An action on open water was just what they didn't get. When it came time to attack the American position at Plattsburg, Prevost wanted his navy to go first, even though the man who had built the British fleet and who knew the local waters, Lieutenant Daniel Pring, had been replaced as head of the fleet by Captain George Downie at the last minute (Borneman, pp. 204-205). Downie would play right into Macdonough's hands.
The American general Macomb had set up his lines on the edge of Plattsburg Bay. This let Macdonough put his forces at the head of the bay, making it difficult for the British to attack at long range; they almost had to turn into the bay, exposed to Macdonough's broadsides -- and, because they had to turn, they would lose most of their wind. Plus MacDonough had a trick: He had Saratoga tied to a series of winches so he could turn her around in place should her starboard side (facing the battle) be too damaged (Borneman, pp. 208-211).
The two lead ships, Saratoga and Confiance, were soon locked in battle. Saratoga probably took more damage (the British were firing heated cannonballs, which twice set her afire; Hickey, p. 191), but one of her shots killed Downie, and at the key moment Macdonough spun his ship around. Confiance tried the same trick, couldn't manage it -- and took so much damage in the process that she had to strike her colors. Paine, p, 119, estimates that she took 105 hits from round shot, killing 40 of her crew and wounding 83. Saratoga was too damaged to fight an open-water action -- the two sides had roughly equal casualties -- but she had won. And, without Confiance, the rest of the British fleet was doomed. Linnet struck her colors about fifteen minutes later, and the battle was over (Borneman, p. 212).
Prevost still had at least a two to one edge on land, and it was probably closer to three to one (if Jameson's numbers are right, it was four to one) -- but he proceeded to retreat anyway, without even seriously engaging Macomb (Borneman, pp. 213-214; Hickey, p. 193). The British thrust in the North -- the potential war-winner -- was at an end. Indeed, as it turned out, that was the effective end of the war on the Canadian frontier.
The American victories at Plattsburg and Baltimore, especially the former, were largely responsible for the end of the war; the Duke of Wellington told the British government that they needed naval superiority on the Great Lakes, and Plattsburg proved once and for all that they didn't have it. The Americans and British had been negotiating, but the two defeats caused the British to back off their harsher demands.
Ironically, the final Treaty of Ghent didn't even address the issues over which Madison had gone to war (impressment, etc.), though it did eventually result in some boundary clarifications.
Incidently, Paul Stamler tells me that they now spell the name of the town "Plattsburgh."
Macomb earned a major general's commission for Plattsburg, and eventually became commander-in-chief of the Unites States army from 1835 until 1841 (Jameson, p. 391). MacDonald, however, whose careful planning had been the key to the victory on the lake, soon contracted tuberculosis (if he wasn't suffering from it already), and spent most of the rest of his career ashore. He never rose above the rank of captain, and died in 1825 at the age of 41 (Heidler/Heidler, p. 313)- RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: LxA510

Sierry Petes, The


See Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail [Laws B17] (File: LB17)

Sig-i-nal Hill


See Back Bay Hill (File: FJ165)

Sights and Scenes of Belfast, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer claims to be "a country clown" looking for work. He finds muddy streets, "scavengers" on strike, strange fashions -- "the Grecian Bend" -- hawkers that will "tear you limb from limb," drunkards and shirkers and artful dodgers.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1989 (Leyden)
KEYWORDS: commerce humorous nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leyden 8, "The Sights and Scenes of Belfast" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Leyden says that this is a "song that takes us on a tour of the city in the 1870s." - BS
File: Leyd008

Sign of the Blue Bell, The


See Next Monday Morning (File: ShH38)

Sign of the Bonnie Blue Bell, The


See Next Monday Morning (File: ShH38)

Sign On Day


DESCRIPTION: "It's sign-on day at the Dance Palais And we're down to a quid or two...." The singer describes the hard work of (sugar) cane cutting. "Our hands are raw, but two bob more Will make them seem like new. If we get enough pay we'll cut all day...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: work Australia harvest
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 198-199, "Sign On Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Cane-cutting was seasonal work, so cutters and farmers gathered for a "sign on day" at some local venue (such as the "Dance Palais" mentioned here). Cane-cutters were paid by how much they cut, so they would often work exhaustingly long hours, then crash once the season was done. - RBW
File: FaE198

Signing the Pledge


DESCRIPTION: "The old folks would be happy If they knew I'd signed the pledge, For my feet have long been straying On the brink of ruin's edge." He hopes, "God helping me," to stay free of drink, to help his parents as they grow old
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink family
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 328, "Signing the Pledge" (1 text)
Roud #7802
File: R328

Silent Night (Still the Night, Stille Nacht)


DESCRIPTION: German christmas song with multiple English translations, the most famous beginning "Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright." The night of Jesus's birth is praised
AUTHOR: Music: Franz Gruber (1787-1863) / German Words: Joseph Mohr (1792-1848)
EARLIEST DATE: 1832 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious Jesus nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Germany Britain US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 384, "Silent Night" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 500-501, "Silent Night"
DT, SLNTNITE*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp. 64-65, "Silent Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #299, "Stille Nacht" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Soul Stirrers, "Silent Night" (Aladdin 2028, n.d. but post-WWII)
NOTES: Mohr reportedly wrote these words in 1818. The tale of Gruber's music is the stuff of folklore: His church's organ was broken, and could not be repaired until after Christmas. Therefore Gruber needed music for guitar and voice -- the only things he had available. On December 24, he wrote this music for Mohr's words.
It is said that the music was given to the world by the organ repairman, though this may be one cute story too many, as the song was not published until 1832. The truth, according to Johnson, is simply that the song was circulated privately for some years, until someone named Friese heard it, took it down, and had it published. It apparently took some time for Gruber and Mohr to get credit. It is interesting to note that Mohr wrote six verses (which, incidentally, never mention Mary!), but three of these have been completely ignored by later singers.
There are at least three English translations of these words. The first, "Stilly night, holy night," by Emily Elliot, is forgotten. In the U.S., the form "Silent Night, Holy Night" is usual; it is often listed as anonymous though it's sometimes credited to John Freeman Young.
In Britain, we often meet the version "Still the night." This too is often listed as anonymous, though Stopford A. Brooks is said to have published it in 1881.
Neither "translation" actually represents the German words very well.
Spaeth reports that the song was popularized in the United States by the Reiner (Rainer) family, starting around 1841. Ian Bradley's Penguin Book of Carols also attributes its popularity to this group -- but in Austria.
Minnesota choral director Philip Brunelle makes the interesting point that we almost always hear this sung too slowly. Gruber's original arrangement was at a typical waltz tempo. The melody has also gotten a little less elaborate over the years; a couple of places where Gruber's melody cycled through a chord where we now stay on a single note. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB384B

Silk Merchant's Daughter (I), The [Laws N10]


DESCRIPTION: A girl's parents send her lover away. She dresses in men's clothes and follows him. Their ship sinks. In a lifeboat, she is chosen by lot to be killed for food; he is to kill her. (She reveals herself); they spot (land or a ship) and all are saved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2698))
KEYWORDS: love exile cross-dressing ship wreck disaster cannibalism reprieve rescue sailor
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Newf,Ont) Britain(Scotland,England) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws N10, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter"
GreigDuncan1 177, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Doerflinger, pp. 296-298, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 25, "The Castaways" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 63-64, "The Merchant's Daughter Turned Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 1, "To Fair London Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 43, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 99, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (fragments of a text with narration of the plot as recalled by the informant)
BrownII 107, "The Silk-Merchant's Daughter" (2 texts)
Hudson 35, pp. 148-149, "The Silk-Merchant's Daughter" (1 text)
Brewster 43, "The Silk-Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, which Laws describes as "almost completely rewritten"; the boy goes to sea to avoid the girl)
SharpAp 64, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 64, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (1 text)
DT 441, SLKMRCHT
Roud #552
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "To Fair London Town" (on IRTLenihan01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2698), "New York Streets" ("As I was a walking up New York street"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(3744), "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" ("As I was a-walking up New London street", unknown, n.d.; Harding B 25(1778), "The Silk Merchant's Daughter"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship in Distress" (plot) and references there
cf. "MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe) [Laws N39]" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe) [Laws N39] (File: LN39)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jamie and Nancy of Yarmouth
New England
The Rich Merchant's Daughter
File: LN10

Silk Merchant's Daughter (II), The


See Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany) [Laws N7] (File: LN07)

Silly Bill


See Common Bill (File: R119)

Silly Old Miser, The


See Darby O'Leary (File: CrSNB110)

Silly Sunday School, The


See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

Silver Dagger (I), The [Laws G21]


DESCRIPTION: Two young people wish to marry; the boy's parents are against it because the girl is poor. The heartbroken girl stabs herself to death. The boy, finding her dying, takes the dagger and stabs himself as well
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love poverty suicide family
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Laws G21, "The Silver Dagger"
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 57, "Come All Good People" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 123-126, "The Silver Dagger" (2 texts plus 1 excerpt and references to 5 more, 1 tune)
Randolph 139, "The Silver Dagger" (6 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 161-163, "The Silver Dagger" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 139A)
Eddy 102, "The Green Fields and Meadows" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 23, "The Silver Dagger" (1 text)
BrownII 72, "The Silver Dagger" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Hudson 64, pp. 188-189, "The Silver Dagger" (1 text)
Shellans, pp. 34-35, "Parents, Warning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 38, "The Silver Dagger" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 730-731, "The Silver Dagger" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 52, pp. 121-122, "Silver Dagger"; pp. 123-124, "Silver Dagger" (2 texts)
JHCox 109, "The Silver Dagger" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Fuson, pp. 71-72, "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" (1 text, with the "Fair and Tender Ladies" first line but otherwise clearly this song)
SharpAp 165, "The Silver Dagger" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes, but the "B" fragment is probably "Charming Beauty Bright" [Laws M3])
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 42, "(The Bloody Dagger)" (1 short text, omitting the suicides)
Darling-NAS, pp. 221-222, "Young Men and Maids" (1 text)
DT 639, SILVDAG2*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 202-203, "(The Young Lovers)" (1 text)
Roud #711
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "Katie Dear" (Bluebird B-7661, 1938)
Homer and Walter Callahan, "Katie Dear (Silver Dagger)" (Banner 33103/Melotone M-13071/Oriole 8353/Perfect 13017/Romeo 5353, c. 1934; Conqueror 9145, 1938; on GoingDown)
Sheila Clark, "Silver Dagger" (on LegendTomDula)
Betty Garland, "Never Make True Lovers Part" (on BGarland01)
Paul Joines, "Young Men and Maids" (on Persis1)
Tommy Moore, Clint Howard et al, "True Lovers" (on Ashley02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drowsy Sleeper" [Laws M4]
cf. "Greenback Dollar" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
An Awful Warning
O Parents, Parents, All Take Warning
NOTES: For the relationship between this and "The Drowsy Sleeper," see the notes on that song. Several songs are filed there which contain nearly as much material from that song as from this. - RBW
File: LG21

Silver Dagger (II), The


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

Silver Flagon, The


DESCRIPTION: "'Lift high,' shouts Clarke, 'the Silver Flagon...The gift of good John Jacob Astor... I drink the curse of hated savage."" When the flagon is found missing, Clarke hangs an Indian, despite a lack of evidence
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt); supposedly written 1914
KEYWORDS: theft punishment execution Indians(Am.) discrimination
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 133-134, "(The Silver Flagon)" (1 text)
NOTES: The John Jacob Astor of this song is of course not the man who went down with the Titanic, but his great-grandfather of the same name (1763-1848), who came to the United States in 1784 and founded the family fortune in the fur trade. As the song says, he founded the city of Astoria in 1811.
According to Burt, this piece arises out of an incident in one of Astor's fur expeditions. John Clarke, one member of the company, was responsible for transporting the flagon. On May 30, 1813, due largely to his own carelessness, it was stolen. Clarke saw an Indian sneaking about, and even though the unfortunate man did not have the flagon or any of the other items missing, Clarke hanged him. - RBW
File: Burt133

Silver Herring, The (Caller Herring)


DESCRIPTION: Peddler's song/street cry: "Who'll buy my silver herrings?/I cry from door to door". Verses tell different ways prepare herring, plus different names. Many enjoy eating herring; more weep for the fishermen who are lost catching them
AUTHOR: Carolina Oliphaunt, Lady Nairne ?
EARLIEST DATE: before 1800 (Nairne's publication), with the tune older; O. J. Abbott learned the traditional version c. 1890
LONG DESCRIPTION: Peddler's song/street cry: "Who'll buy my silver herrings?/I cry from door to door". Verses tell different ways to cook and eat herring, plus different names - Yarmouth bloaters or Digby kipper red. Many enjoy eating herring; many more weep for the fishermen who are lost catching them or fear for their loved ones' safety
KEYWORDS: grief death fishing work food nonballad animal sailor worker family
FOUND IN: Britain(England) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, CALLHERR
Roud #3824
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Silver Herring" (on Abbott1)
NOTES: If, as I believe, O. J. Abbott's "The Silver Herrings" is a traditional version of Lady Nairne's "Caller Herring," it has a complicated pedigree. Lady Nairne wrote "Caller Herrin'" "toward the end of the 18th century" to help Nathaniel Gow (son of Neil Gow). Nairne set it to a harpsichord piece by the elder Gow, which itself was based on a fish-seller's call.
To make life even more complicated, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) had his own herring cry ("Herrings"; see Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 324). This has lines such as, "Be not sparing. Leave off swearing. Buy my herring Fresh from Malahide, Better never was tried.... Come, sixpence a dozen, to get me some bread, Or, like my own herrings, I soon shall be dead." Possibly independent, but who knows.... - RBW
File: RcSilHer

Silver Jack [Laws C24]


DESCRIPTION: Robert Waite condemns the Bible as fictitious and Jesus as "just a common man." Silver Jack proceeds to beat the "infidel" until he admits the error of his ways.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (article, John A. Lomax)
KEYWORDS: Bible fight
FOUND IN: US(MW,NW,Ro,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws C24, "Silver Jack"
Rickaby 32, "Silver Jack" (1 text)
Hudson 78, pp. 206-207, "Silver Jack" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 60, "Silver Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 38, "Lumberjack's Revival" (1 text)
DT 606, SILVRJAK(*)
ADDITIONAL: Hal Cannon, editor, _Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering_, Giles M. Smith, 1985, pp. 21-23, "Silver Jack" (1 text)
Roud #705
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Clementine" (tune)
cf. "Bung Yer Eye" (character)
cf. "The Protestant Maid" (subject: religious conversion) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Religion in Camp
Silver Jack the Evangelist
NOTES: John "Silver Jack" Driscoll seems to have been the subject of this ballad; a quarrelsome, fighting man from the Saginaw valley of Michigan, he apparently fought too hard one time, and was sent to prison. To quote T. G. Belanger: "He died with his boots off, in the Ottawa Hotel, in L'Anse, Michigan, April 1, 1895. Beside him ...were found the following: a bottle of cough medicine, $85.00 in bills, and a note: 'This will be enough to bury me.'" - PJS
This particular example of Christian charity and peacefulness is suspected by both Hudson and Lomax (without supporting evidence) of having been originally published in a newspaper. Given its anti-intellectual tone (stanza 1 describes Waite as "Kind of cute and smart and tonguey; Guess he was a graduate"), I am inclined to doubt this. - RBW
I'm not; newspapers could be rabidly anti-intellectual. Read the Chicago Tribune during the McCormick era, or the early Hearst press. - PJS
But would any newspaperman claim that "the spread of infidelity Was checked in camp that day"? - RBW
File: LC24

Silver Pin, The


See The Keys of Canterbury (File: R354)

Silver Threads


See I Know a Boarding-House (File: R479)

Silver Threads among the Gold


DESCRIPTION: "Darling, I am growing old, Silver threads among the gold Shine upon my brow today; Life is fading fast away; But, my darling, you will be... Always young and fair to me." The singer describes how (his) belove will grow old, but he will love her anyway
AUTHOR: Words: Eben Eugene Rexford / Music: Hart Pease Danks
EARLIEST DATE: 1873
KEYWORDS: love age nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 194-197, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 1-4, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 259, "Silver Threads Among The Gold" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 501, "Silver Threads Among the Gold"
DT, SILVTHRD*
ST RJ19194 (Full)
Roud #6403
RECORDINGS:
Henry Burr, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (Victor 19131, 1923)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (OKeh 45488, 1930)
Andrew Jenkins & Carson Robison, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (OKeh 45246, 1928)
Frank & James McCravy, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (Brunswick 197, 1928; rec. 1927)
McMichen's Melody Men, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (Columbia 15247-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
Marie Narelle, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (CYL: Edison 9162, 1905)
Riley Puckett, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (Columbia 405-D, 1925)
Royal Hawaiians, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (Broadway 8100, c. 1930)
Will Oakland, "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1547, n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet Genevieve" (theme)
cf. "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
At the Boarding House (Silver Threads; While the Organ Pealed Potatoes) (File: DTbordho)
NOTES: Jackson notes, "The fashionable message of the song -- that romantic love remains always young even though bodies wrinkle and age -- was apparently lost on Danks's wife; she left the forty-year-old composer the year after 'Silver Threads' appeared."
This was the only song by Rexford (1848-1916) that amounted to anything, but it by itself was enough to cause monuments to be erected to him in both his birthplace in New York and his primary place of residence in Wisconsin.
Danks (1834-1903) spent much of his life trying to make a career of music; he composed several other melodies and several stage pieces -- but, again, none of them amounted to anything.
According to James J. Geller's Famous Songs and their Stories, this collaboration came about in a curious way: Rexford was editing a Wisconsin farm magazine and, needing a space filler, threw in one of his poems. Danks saw it, thought it worth setting to music, and sent Rexford a small sum to purchase the rights. That song went nowhere -- but Rexford responded by sending Danks much of his other works. Among those songs was "Silver Threads." Danks supplied music, and the two had the only hit they would ever produce- RBW
File: RJ19194

Silver Tide, The


See The Silvery Tide [Laws O37] (File: LO37)

Silver Whistle, The


DESCRIPTION: Scots Gaelic, welcoming Bonnie Prince Charlie to Scotland: "Oh who will play the silver whistle? ... (when my) king's son to sea is going?" The singer describes those who will welcome Charlie, as well as the handsome prince himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Kennedy-Fraser)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites ship return travel
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1720-1788 - Life of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
1745 - The (last) Jacobite Rebellion
1746 - Prince Charlie's rebellion crushed at Culloden.
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Hebr))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 9, "Co Sheinneas an Fhideag Airgid? (O Who Will Play the Silver Whistle)" (1 text+ English translation, 1 tune)
Kennedy-Fraser I, pp. 134-135, "An Island Jacobite Song/The Silver Whistle (An Fhideag Airgid)" (1 text+ English translation, 1 tune)
DT, SILVWHIS
File: K009

Silvery Lee, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says "never river saw I any Half so fair or dear to me As my own, the silvery Lee" He prefers it to the Rhine (and whisky to wine), the Tagus, Tiber, Danube, Seine and Elbe. But he is influenced by "her voice" who also favors the Lee.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1818 (Cork broadside, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: river drink wine nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 226-227, "The Silvery Lee" (1 text)
File: CrPS226

Silvery Moon, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a girl lamenting in the moonlight. Her lover was true and brave, "but now he is dead, the youth once so gay... And he silently sleeps while I'm left here to weep By the sweet silver light of the moon."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes)
KEYWORDS: love death separation
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 800, "The Silvery Moon" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 233-234, "Silvery Moon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean, p. 94, "Sweet Silver Light of the Moon" (1 text)
Roud #906
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Roll On, Silver Moon
File: R800

Silvery Tide, The [Laws O37]


DESCRIPTION: A nobleman courts Molly while Henry is away. The noble threatens to drown Molly if she will not marry him. She refuses. He strangles her and throws her in the sea. Henry finds her body and the noble's handkerchief. The nobleman is hanged, and Henry mourns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.13(172))
KEYWORDS: murder love revenge execution
FOUND IN: US(MW,So) Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland,England(South)) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws O37, "The Silvery Tide"
Belden, pp. 126-127, "Mary in the Silvery Tide" (1 text)
Randolph 93, "The Silvery Tide" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 60, "Out on the Silvery Tide" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 17, "The Silver Tide" (1 text)
Doerflinger, pp. 282-283, "Mary on the Silvery Tide" (1 text)
SHenry H77, pp. 418-419, "The Silver[y] Tide" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 472-473, "The Silvery Tide" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 125-127, "The Silvery Tide" ( text)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 206-209, "The Silvery Tide" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Mackenzie 52, "Mary on the Silvery Tide" (1 text)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 107-109,255, "The Silvery Tide" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 93, "The Silvery Tide" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 336, SILVTIDE*
Roud #561
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Breen, "On the Banks of the Silvery Tide" (on Voice10)
Sam Jagoe, "The Silvery Tide" (on Miramichi1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.13(172), "Poor Mary in the Silvery Tide," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth b.28(25a) View 2 of 2[partly illegible], Firth c.13(171), Harding B 11(3093), Harding B 11(3094), Harding B 11(3095), Harding B 11(3096), Harding B 11(3097), Harding B 20(276), "Poor Mary in the Silvery Tide"; 2806 c.16(275), "Poor Mary in the Silvery Tide!"; Firth b.27(202), "Poor Mary of the Silvery Tide"; Harding B 11(66), "Mary of the Silvery Tide"
File: LO37

Silvy


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

Sim and the Widow


See Sim Courted the Widow (File: R371)

Sim Courted the Widow


DESCRIPTION: "Seven long years did Sim court the widder... Seven long years, and Sim didn't git her." Sim went home grieving -- but not before stealing a curry-comb. Forced to return it by "my son John," the rest of the song relates Sim's disjointed further adventures
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection theft humorous
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Belden, pp. 436-437, "Sim and the Widow" (2 texts)
Randolph 371, "Sim Courted the Widow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 301-302, "Sim Courted the Widow" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 371)
Roud #7621
File: R371

Simon and Janet


DESCRIPTION: Old man and wife, Simon and Janet, hear Bonaparte has landed. In spite of her dreams of his death, he goes to join the fight. The captain tells him to be ready next morning. It is a false alarm. They return from the war unscathed, cursing the French.
AUTHOR: Andrew Scott (1757-1839) (source: Greig #27, p. 2)
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: age army war Scotland humorous husband wife Napoleon
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #25, p. 1, "Simon and Janet" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 73, "Simon and Janet" (1 text)
Roud #5771
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Noble Huntly" (subject: the threatened invasion by Napoleon)
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: "The song refers to the false alarm of Bonaparte's landing when the beacons were lit by mistake in the Border counties of England and Scotland on 2 February 1804." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1073

Simon Brodie


DESCRIPTION: Symon Brodie is honest, stupid, old and confused; "I'll awa to the north-countree And see my ain dear Symon Brodie!" He lost his cow and couldn't find her but she "came hame and her tail behind her" His bonny wife used a dish towel to bind her hair.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd, according to Hecht-Herd)
KEYWORDS: clothes humorous nonballad animal wife hair
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1658, "Simon Brodie" (1 text plus a single verse on p. 396, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Hans Hecht, editor, Songs From David Herd's Manuscripts (Edinburgh, 1904), #54 pp. 173,303, "Symon Brodie" [Not yet indexed as Hecht-Herd 54]
Alexander Rodger, editor, Whistle-Binkie, Second Series (Glasgow, 1842), pp. 75-76, "Simon Brodie"
Roud #8531
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Bo-Peep" (theme: animal returns by itself, with its tail "behind")
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 has Simon lose a dove that also returns "into the doocot an' her tail behind her."
The Whistle-Binkie text adds a description of Simon Brodie. It includes adjectives like plump, cheerful, shrewd and, maybe, crack-brained. Physically, he is "in height an ell but an' a span [an ell is 45" and a span is 9"], An' twice as braid" with thin, grey hair.
James Hogg, Tales of the Wars of Montrose, (Philadelphia, 1836 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. II, pp. 28-79, wrote "A Few Remarkable Adventures of Sir Simon Brodie." He begins, "As I have been at great pains in drawing together all possible records and traditions during the troubled reign of Charles the First, and being aware that I have many of those relating to Scotland to which no other person ever had access, I must relate some incidents in the life of one extraordinary character so well known to traditionary lore, that I have but to name him to interest every Scotchman and woman in his heroic adventures. The hero I mean is Sir Simon Brodie, of Castle-Garl, whose romantic exploits well deserve to be kept in record."
The adventure runs from July 7 to September 16, 1644. Montrose, escaping to the Highlands of Scotland after the battle of Marston-moor, enlists loyalist Brodie, whom he has not met before, to raise a force to fight the Covenanters near Sterling. Brodie, though "enthusiastically, madly loyal," manifested "a singular vacancy and indecision of character. Indeed, he appeared ... to be rather what the Scots call a half-daft man." But, "he was a man like Leviathan, made without fear." He repeatedly enters a battle outnumbered, is taken prisoner, believes he has captured his captors, but is rescued or escapes without ever understanding the situation.
Montrose, to keep Brodie out of the way, sends him after Argyle, who escapes to sea. Brodie gets aboard Argyle's ship, the Faith, imagines he has taken all prisoner [again], and is thrown overboard to be rescued by a seal he takes for a mermaid. Put ashore at Inch-Colm -- a place reputed to be haunted -- he takes prisoner what claims to be the Covenanter ghost; this time his prisoner escapes. He is captured again by Covenanters he thinks are corpses; they consider him "altogether a fool ... and not one word that he says can be relied on. Think of his stories of taking 1200 men prisoners with his own hand; his pursuit and seizure of Argyle; and last of all, his being brought to our retreat hanging at the tail of a mermaid." He escapes to join Montrose again, and later escapes at Philliphaugh; ... "from that unfortunate day he never met Montrose again. He was exempted from Cromwell's act of grace, and wore out an old age of honest poverty among his friends in Aberdeenshire, his lands being confiscated to the State."
For more on Montrose, Argyle, and the Covenanters see "The Battle of Philiphaugh" [Child 202], "The Bonnie House o Airlie" [Child 199], "Bonnie John Seton" [Child 198], "The Haughs o' Cromdale" and "The Battle of Alford." - BS
It will perhaps demonstrate the power of folklore to create (and abolish) characters that I checked ten histories -- five of Scotland, two of Great Britain, two of the Stuart era, and one specifically about Charles I -- without finding mention of Brodie. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81658

Simon Slick


See Whoa Mule (The Kickin' Mule) (File: LoF231)

Simon's Lady


See Willie's Lady [Child 6] (File: C006)

Simple Gifts


DESCRIPTION: "'Tis the gift to be simple, 'Tis the gift to be free, 'Tis the gift to come down Where we ought to be...." In praise of "simplicity" and love, which bring the hope of heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Darling-NAS, pp. 258-259, "Simple Gifts" (1 text)
DT, SIMPLEGF*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Will Bow And Be Simple" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
The Lord of the Dance (by Sydney Carter; DT LORDANCE)
NOTES: This song has become one of the most popular in the Folk Revival. The idea of a simple life seems very refreshing in today's overcomplicated age. But I wonder how many of the people who have sung the song realize that "simplicity" means, among other things, abstinence from sex? - RBW
File: DarN259A

Simple Little Nancy Brown


DESCRIPTION: Various girls go out, get in trouble, and find unexpected solutions. Example: "They went walking by the beach, Went in swimming, got out of reach; She lost her socks and evr'thing, So what d'ye suppose she came home in... She came home in the twilight."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905
KEYWORDS: humorous nonsense wordplay
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 149, "Simple Little Nancy Brown" (1 text plus assorted excerpts, 1 tune)
ST FSC149 (Partial)
Roud #4613
NOTES: According to Cazden et al, this is an updated version, with new tune, chorus, and plot twists, of a piece published in 1905 as "Fol de Rol Dol." - RBW
File: FSC149

Simple Plowboy, The


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

Simple Will


DESCRIPTION: Simple Will walks up the street looking at every girl. Kate smiles. He proposes. She agrees, intending to wear the breeches. They fight over his drinking. She beats him with a poker. He wishes he had wed "some country wench" and not a Glasgow lady.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage fight drink husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 959, "Simple Will" (1 text)
Roud #6743
NOTES: This is like "The Wearing of the Britches" with the woman winning the britches war. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD5959

Simpson Bush


DESCRIPTION: "Attention give while I relate Though horrible is the shame, I'll tell you of a doomed man, Bush they call his name." He is sentenced to die "for the murder of his own dear wife." The singer describes the methods of the murder, then moralizes
AUTHOR: James W. Day (Jilson Setters)
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: murder husband wife children
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 129-130, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Definitely not one of Setters's better songs. - RBW
File: ThBa129

Sin-Sick Soul, The


DESCRIPTION: "Brother George is a-gwine to glory, take care the sin-sick soul" (x3).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 49, "The Sin-Sick Soul" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #12007
File: AWG049B

Sin's Reward


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

Since I Laid My Burden Down


DESCRIPTION: Gospel song, describing singer's plans to meet with his mother and with Jesus, shake hands with angels, walk and talk in glory "since I laid my burden down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Elders McIntorsh & Edwards' Sanctified Singers)
KEYWORDS: death nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE,So,MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 70, "Since I Laid My Burden Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys, "When I Lay My Burden Down" (OKeh 05587/Conqueror 9433, 1940; Conqueror 9667, 1941)
Bessemer Sunset Four, "When I Lay My Burden Down" (Vocalion 1488, 1930)
Rev. Clayborn, "When I Lay My Burden Down" (Vocalion 1458, 1930; rec. 1929)
Roosevelt Graves, "When I Lay My Burden Down" (Paramount 12974, 1930; rec. 1929)
Elders McIntorsh & Edwards' Sanctified Singers, "Since I Laid My Burden Down" (OKeh 8698, 1929; rec. 1928; on AAFM2, Babylon)
Turner Junior Johnson, "When I Lay My Burden Down" (AFS 6608 B3, 1942; on LC10, LCTreas)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Glory, Glory Halleluiah
Since I Laid My Burthen Down
File: ADR70

Since I Left Arkansas


See Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Been All Around This World) (File: R146)

Since James Went on the Stage


DESCRIPTION: "My name is Patrick Hogan, in this city I reside, I raised a son to manhood and he was my joy and pride," but now "me carpet is tore and me house is in a roar Since James went on the stage." The singer tells of the troubles caused by his son's acting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: father children humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, p. 62, "Since James Went on the Stage" (1 text)
Roud #5499
NOTES: This looks like a stage song, but I have been unable to locate the original. - RBW
File: Dean062B

Since Love Can Enter an Iron Door


See The Iron Door [Laws M15] (File: LM15)

Since My Dear Laddie's Gane Far Awa'


DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks of the days when she and her sweetheart herded on the hills and "in his plaid he's sheltered me" Now he's left her, "oot owre the sea," "wi' grief an' care" and a baby. She'll have no other but him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: grief love sex separation nonballad baby shepherd clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1108, "Since My Dear Laddie's Gane Far Awa'" (1 text)
Roud #6837
File: GrD61108

Since She's Gone Let Her Go


DESCRIPTION: The singer goes to see his sweetheart but finds her "asleep in another man's arms." He complains that young women will "promise to thirty and prove constant to none... I'll have a good one if there's one to be found."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1207, "Since She's Gone Let Her Go" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #803
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Once Loved a Lassie
File: GrD61207

Since Terrence Joined the Gang


DESCRIPTION: "My name is Michael Slattery, and from Ireland I came." He has a son Terrence, who has "joined the gang" and now wears a "big watch and chain," talks back to his parents, steals, and has been convicted of theft
AUTHOR: Words: W. Scanlon / Music: William Cronin
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean); a broadside published c. 1870 by Bell & Company; probably found in Beadle's Half-Dime Singer's Library #5 of 1878
KEYWORDS: father children robbery prison
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 113-114, "Since Terrence Joined the Gang"
Roud #9580
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Since Terry Joined the Gang (broadside title)
File: Dean113B

Sindbad


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, it's Sindbad [sic] the sailor and Robinson Crusoe, I left my native counterie a roaming for to go. I went to be a sailor returned just as you see, a mixture of an Indian, a Turk, and a Japanee. Oh, jeffer see my jibber ahoy...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Colcord)
KEYWORDS: sailor shanty rambling
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Colcord, p. 184, "Sindbad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4712
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sinbad
NOTES: Colcord included this as an example of Negro songs, but even she was doubtful of that origin. She says that it was sung by a Frenchman to Capt. Edward H. Cole, who then sang it to her. - SL
File: Colc184

Sinful Army


DESCRIPTION: "O fathers, ain't you glad you left that sinful army? (x2), The sea gave way -- Oh, mothers, ain't you glad the sea gave way? Oh, Moses smote the water And the children all passed over... And the sea gave way." "oh, brothers, ain't you glad...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Henry, from "a group of Negroes at Montreat, North Carolina")
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 199, "Pharaoh's Army" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Moses Smote the Waters" (lyrics)
File: MHAp199

Sinful Maiden, The


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

Sinful to Flirt


See Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt) [Laws G19] (File: LG19)

Sing a Song of Sixpence


DESCRIPTION: "Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye; Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie." The pie is opened and the birds sing. The king is in the counting house, the queen in the parlour, the maid in the garden and a blackbird "snapped off her nose"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: food nonballad bird royalty
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 486, "Sing a song of sixpence" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #3, p. 26, "(Sing a song of sixpence)"
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 229, "Sixpence" (1 text, with a different ending: No King in the counting-house, and the singer is "Sitting on a stool... a-singing for a fool")
Roud #13191
SAME TUNE:
Three Brave Blacksmiths (File: OLcM071)
Sing a Song of Charleston (Vera Brodsky Lawrence, _Music for Patriots, Politicians, and Presidents_, p. 342)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "It is well known that in the sixteenth century surprising things were inserted in pies.... The mention of a 'counting-house' ... also helps to indicate that the rhyme may be traced to the sixteenth century.... Kidson says that the air to which the words are generally sung is the old Scottish dance tune 'Calder Fair.'" - BS
The "surprising things" in the pie often were intended as a entertainment or reward (a theme which more recently inspired J. R. R. Tolkien's "Smith of Wootton Major," his last fantasy work).
The notes in the Annotated Mother Goose mention a connection with Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon, and Anne Boleyn. But Henry VIII was the sort of monarch you wouldn't be likely to find in a counting house. If there were an English king involved, especially in the sixteenth century, it would doubtless be Henry VII, who was such a money-grubber that he would without doubt have had intimate relations with his cash had he figured out a way to do it.
One book I read seemed to be implying that this is about the Popes during the so-called "Babylonian Captivity" of the thirteenth century, when they resided at Avignon rather than Rome. Some of the Avignon Popes were indeed very concerned with money, but that seems extraordinarily early. And what does the text describe in that case? The Great Company invading the Papal territories? England taking possession of Aquitaine after the Treaty of Bretigny? All these things fall under the heading "possible but not at all convincing."
As the Opies say, many of the suggested explanations are "not so easy to disprove" -- but even harder to prove. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GGGSiSo6

Sing a Song, Blow-Along O!


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "Way down in Dixie! Way down in Dixie, oh I had a gal. Ch: Sing a song, blow-along O!" Verses continue describing the aforementioned gal, the singer, and what they did (or would do) to each other.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, p.417, "Sing a Song, Blow-Along O!" ( 1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 318]
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Miss Lucy Loo" (chorus lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Dixie Land
NOTES: According to Hugill, this along with most West Indies shanties, was probably used as a cotton loading song before it went to sea. - SL
File: Hugi417

Sing Ivy


See My Father Had an Acre of Land (File: K300)

Sing One for Me


DESCRIPTION: "Down in the lonesome pine woods, This song is sung with glee. Now I have sung a song for you And you may sing one for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: music nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-NewBrunswick, p. 34, "Sing One for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Ives-NewBrunswick quotes the singer: "Here's a verse that used to be sung sometimes after a song." - BS
File: IvNB034

Sing Out (I), A


See O Mary, Come Down! (File: Hugi368)

Sing Outs


DESCRIPTION: Likely the predecessor to the full shanty (which has discernable words and a division of solo & chorus parts). These are short phrases or vocalizations, often made up of nonsense syllables, and used for hauling.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: shanty work nonballad nonsense
FOUND IN: Britain US Canada
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Harlow pp. 8-9, 20-21, 24, 29, "Handsome Charlie's Sing Out," "Hauling in the Slack of the Foresheet," "A Sing Out" (3 texts, 3 tunes & several fragments)
Hugill pp. 573-579, "Sing-outs for Rope, Capstan, and Halyard Winch" (several fragments) [AbEd, pp. 398-401]
Doerflinger pp. 91-92, (no title, quoted from Capt. James P. Barker)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Haul Out
Sweat-in' Up Chants
Short Cries
Royal Artillery Man
St. Helena Soldier
Hauley, Hauley-Ho!
Holystoning
NOTES: Several of the examples listed by Hugill had titles, though the title and what there was of the text were generally the same. Many were quoted from other sources, and I've listed them in the alternate titles field. - SL
File: Hugi573

Sing Sally Oh


See Sing, Sally O! (File: Hugi288)

Sing Song Kitty


See Kemo Kimo (File: R282)

Sing-Sing


DESCRIPTION: The singer and Johnny King are imprisoned in Sing-Sing. They make an attempt to break out, but they cannot create a large enough opening and are trapped. King is shot. Soon after, the singer is pardoned and gratefully bids farewell to prison
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: prison pardon
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 167, "Sing-Sing" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC167 (Partial)
NOTES: Charles Hinkley, who gave the song to Cazden et al, claimed he was one of the two composers. The collectors admit the possibility, but only that.
This song is item dE52 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: FSC167

Sing, Sally O!


DESCRIPTION: There are two versions, one a halyard and the other a capstan shanty. Characteristic refrain is "Sing Sally O, an' a fol-lol-de-day." The verses of the capstan version have a general whoring theme and are speaking to a "Mudder or Mammy Dinah."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong whore sailor
FOUND IN: West Indies Britain
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Colcord, p. 60, "Sing Sally O!" (1 text, 1 tune - 1 verse only, no choruses)
Hugill, pp. 388-389, "Sing, Sally O!" (2 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 296-297]
Sharp-EFC, XXXI, p. 36, "Sing, Sally O" (1 text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 233, (second of four "Fragments from Maryland") (1 fragment, which I link to this on the basis of the mention of Mammy Dinah, though it might be anything)
DT, SNGSALLY*
Roud #4699
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hawl Away, Joe" (tune)
cf. "Sally Brown" (some verses)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Mudder Dinah
File: Hugi288

Singapor-Sang (Singapore Song)


DESCRIPTION: erman shanty. Tired of tough meat, the steward of a ship buys a bull in Singapore. They manage to hoist it onto the ship but have considerable trouble killing it and the bull causes much damage before it expires. Last phrase of verses repeat as chorus.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Baltzer, _Knurrhahn_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty animal humorous food death
FOUND IN: Germany
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 566-568, "Singapor-Sang" (2 texts-German & English, 1 tune)
NOTES: Hugill said this was based on an actual incident that took place on board a ship called Arkona. - SL
File: Hugi566

Singin' Gatherin', The


DESCRIPTION: "Far back in the dusty hollow Where the trees grow straight and tall, Sits the Traipsin' Woman Cabin... Where in the June-time of the year Is held the folk-lore festival." The singer describes the event and the people who attend and praises the organizer
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: music nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 260-261, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: There are many pieces in Thomas that I don't really trust -- but there is none I more suspect of being Thomas's own work than this (and "Wee House in the Wood," which bears the same traits). It's anonymous, it's about Thomas's own Festival, and it rather sounds like her style. - RBW
File: ThBa260

Singin' Hinnie, The


DESCRIPTION: "Sit doon, noo, man alive! Te tell ye aa'll contrive O' the finest thing the worl' hes ivver gin ye, O. It's not fine claes nor drink, Now owt 'at ye can think Can had a cannle up ti singin'-hinney, O." The song tells how the singin' hinnie shapes lives
AUTHOR: "Harry Haldane"
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: technology
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 172-173, "The Singin' Hinnie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2618
NOTES: The title of this song is given as "The Singin' Hinnie," but references in the text call it a "Singin' Hinney."
I will admit that I'm truly not sure what this is about. Normally, a "singing hinnie (honey)" would be a musical loved one, but I have this funny feeling it refers to a piece of machinery -- probably a steam-powered pump or elevator.
Fortunately, we don't really have to figure it out; it appears this song has never been found in oral tradition. - RBW
File: StoR172

Singing Class, The


DESCRIPTION: The singers are listed. Josie Fowlie, "goodman o' Cadgiedykes," Sawners Fenty "Fleein' like a bird." "Some sang Bangor, And some sang bass, But bonny Mary Jamieson Sang munsy in the ase" [?]
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: music moniker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 625, "The Singing Class" (2 fragments)
Roud #6062
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "The two fragments on this theme are given together here but it should be noted that, although they may be parts of the same song, it is not possible to be certain of this on the present evidence."
The following songs are all one or two verses or fragments with a verse beginning "[so-and-so he/she] was there": "Mary Glennie," "Jean Dalgarno," "The Singing Class" and "The Auchnairy Ball." Should two or more be considered the same song? - BS
This is possible, of course, but I suspect this is a separate humorous song, with the title genuinely describing the contents: A singing class, with "Bangor" being an error for "renor." I'm not sure what Mary Jamieson was singing, though. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3625

Singing of the Travels, The


See The Husbandman and the Servingman (File: K226)

Singing the Travels


See The Husbandman and the Servingman (File: K226)

Single Days of Old, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls "The merry days -- the days of old" when her husband loved her. With time, he grows more aloof and distant. Eventually "my health gave way, my spirits fled, They told him I would die." The husband again pays attention, and she survives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: husband wife disease
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H659, p. 504, "Singles Days of Old" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2679
File: H659

Single Girl


See I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again (File: Wa126)

Single Girl, Married Girl


DESCRIPTION: "Single girl, single girl, go and dress so fine... Married girl, married girl goes ragged all the time...." The lives of single and married women compared: The single girl can go out (and perhaps even spend); the married girl must care for the baby; etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: marriage wife
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Warner 128, "Single Girl, Married Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 87 "Single Girl, Married Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 84, "Single Girl, Married Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 185, "Single Girl" (1 text)
DT, SINGLGRL
Roud #436
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Single Girl, Married Girl" (Victor 20937A, 1927; on AAFM3) (Conqueror 8733, 1936; Melotone 7-04-53, 1937)
Frank Profitt, "Single Girl" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
Ruby Vass, "Single Girl" (on LomaxCD1702)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again"
cf. "I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female)"
cf. "Single Girl, Married Girl"
cf. "Sorry the Day I Was Married"
cf. "When I Was Young (II)" (theme)
cf. "For Seven Long Years I've Been Married" (theme)
cf. "Married and Single Life" (subject)
NOTES: Roud lumps "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again" and "Single Girl, Married Girl" (and perhaps others). Definitely a stretch, though the songs can easily cross-fertilize. - RBW
File: Wa128

Single Life, A (Single Is My Glory)


DESCRIPTION: "Some do say there are good girls, Oh, where shall we find them? Some do say there are good boys, But never do you mind them." The singer warns of deceivers, concluding, "A single life I am to live, Oh, single is my glory... Then who will control me?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Roba Stanley)
KEYWORDS: nonballad warning courting
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 18, "A Single Life" (1 text)
Roud #4963
RECORDINGS:
Roba Stanley, "Single Life" (OKeh 40436, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Married and Single Life" (subject)
File: Br3018

Single Sailor (I), The


See Willie and Mary (Mary and Willie; Little Mary; The Sailor's Bride) [Laws N28] (File: LN28)

Single Sailor (II), The


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

Sinking of the Graf Spee, The


DESCRIPTION: The Admiral Graf Spee, "built in Nazi Germany ... looted merchant men of every nationality." It lost a battle with three British "little cruisers" and "went to cover." The pocket battleship was scuttled "in Davy Jones's pocket"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: battle navy sea ship England Germany humorous
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
December 13, 1939 - Three British cruisers battle the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the Battle of the River Platte.
December 17, 1939 - The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled outside Montevideo harbor to avoid another battle (source: "German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee" from Wikipedia).
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Morton-Ulster 31, "The Sinking of the Graf Spee" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GRAFSPEE*
Roud #2909
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Golden Vanity" (tune)
NOTES: One of the many, many causes of World War I was the mighty expansion of the German navy prior to the war, the result of the peculiar desires of Wilhelm II. Imperial Germany didn't need a big navy -- it had very few overseas colonies -- but even Wilhelm's mother admitted "Wilhelm's one idea is to have a Navy which shall be larger and stronger than the Royal Navy" (Keegan-Admiralty, pp. 112-113).
The Germans never quite managed to build a fleet to match the Royal Navy, but they came close enough to scare the British badly, and to win a tactical victory (though a complete strategic defeat) at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
After the war, the British determined there would be no more of that. One of the conditions of the Armistice was that the major units of the German fleet (which by then was mutinous and hardly capable of fighting) be placed under guard in Britain. Half a year later, knowing that the ships would be surrendered, the German crews scuttled the entire fleet at Scapa Flow (Keegan-First, p. 420). And the German fleet from then on was to be restricted to a small, lightly-armed force, with no ability to fight a surface battle with the British.
The Germans, in the years after the Great War, did their best to figure out ways around the restrictions. The time eventually came when they started laying down new ships, and after a few small craft, they came out with the concept of the panzerschiff, known in Britain as the "pocket battleship." The first ship of this type, the Deutschland (later renamed Lutzow) caused "a sensation... for she was an expression of Germany's will to outflank the conditions of Versailles" (Preston, p. 133). Two more ships of the class, the Admiral Graf Spee (named after an admiral who had died in World War I) and the Admiral Scheer, followed.
The pocket battleships didn't really deserve either the name or the hype. They had six 11" guns (the bare minimum size to be considered a battleship, though a real battleship would have had at least eight of them), but her armor did not exceed three and a half inches (a battleship should have had at least three times that), and her top speed was 26 knots (Paine, p. 3). And although they were theoretically 10,000 ton ships (the treaty limit for cruisers at the time), the three ships were certainly much heavier (Bruce/Cogar, p. 2, estimates roughly 12,000 tons; Paine comes up with over 15,000 -- the latter making her nearly as heavy as the first modern battleship, Dreadnought, which was less than 18,000 tons).
Their only really unusual feature seems to have been that they could stay at sea for a very long time without touching a supply base -- the Germans of course had no overseas bases after 1918.
Even so, the "pocket battleship" design was basically an overgunned heavy cruiser. Theoretically, she could "outrun what she could not outgun" -- overwhelming cruisers with her heavy guns and using her speed to get away from battleships. But the British had three battle cruisers (Hood, Repulse, and Renown) which could outrun *and* outgun the pocket battleships, and the battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class were only a couple of knots slower than the pocket battleships. And the battleships of the King George V class, which started to come off the stocks at the beginning of World War II, were also faster than the pocket battleships. Had the panzerschiff existed in World War I, they would have been revolutionary. In World War II, they were pests, but hardly technological miracles.
(This was a constant problem for the German navy: they thought too much in World War I terms. Their alleged super-battleships, Bismarck and Tirpitz, were slightly improved versions of the World War I Baden class, relatively under-armed and with inefficient machinery that took too much space and weight for the power they produced. It has been claimed that the Bismarck was the strongest battleship in the world at the time of her maiden voyage. But vessels of the American North Carolina and South Dakota classes, and the Japanese Yamato, were all stronger, and all were in service by the end of 1942.)
Still, even a cruiser could do major damage if it came across unprotected merchant ships (the Admiral Scheer once single-handedly knocked off six ships from an Atlantic convoy; Paine, pp. 4, 273-274), and the Germans meant to use every vessel they could lay their hands on to attack British commerce (Humble, p. 140). When World War II began, the Germans sent out the pocket battleships to see what they could find. Their long range made them ideal for this duty, assuming one was prepared to accept that they were likely to eventually be run down and destroyed.
In one of history's little ironies, the Graf Spee headed for South America (Becker, p. 37), where the fleet of her namesake, Graf von Spee, had died when his small fleet of cruisers was destroyed at the Battle of the Falklands in 1914.
At first, it seemed the Germans had found the Happy Hunting Grounds; Graf Spee took nine prizes (Paine, p. 4) totalling about 50,000 tons, for the most part stopping them, sending off the crews, and then sinking them; indeed, many of the British sailors were put on the supply ship Altmark, from which the British eventually rescued them (Keegan-Second, p. 50).
But the British, just as they had in 1914 in chasing Admiral Spee, threw a huge force against the tiny surface raider. A total of twenty ships (a few of them French) were formed into eight task groups to hunt the lone German ship (Humble, p. 140).
In the end, it was one of the weaker task forces that found her: The heavy cruiser Exeter and light cruisers Ajax and Achilles, commanded by Commodore Harry Harwood, caught up with the German on December 13, 1939. Graf Spee had a big edge in weight of shell and range of guns; Exeter had a mere six 8" guns (Paine, p. 178), and the other two nothing heavier than 6". But they came at Graf Spee from two different directions, and the German ship had only two turrets. Graf Spee managed to silence Exeter's guns, and Ajax also sustained damage in the battle from straddles (Paine, p. 10) -- but Graf Spee's armor was so thin that even the light cruisers could hurt her, and she was almost out of ammunition. She fled to Montevideo harbor (Becker, p. 104).
No one knew it, but the Battle of the River Plate was over. Uruguay was a neutral nation, so Graf Spee had to either repair her damage quickly and get out, or she had to accept internment. And British intelligence tricked Captain Langsdorff into believing that they had overwhelming forces heading for him (Humble, p. 141). Langsdorf took the Graf Spee out into the estuary and scuttled her on December 17. Later, he committed suicide (Bruce/Cogar, p. 3. He was probably smart, given the reception he would have faced had he returned to Germany).
In terms of tonnage sunk, the Graf Spee had "paid for herself." But the British had had the last laugh, so they treated it as a moral victory, and the Germans as a defeat.
Delgado, p. 159, notes that the location of the wreck is known, and that a survey in 1997 found that much of the ship had vanished in ways that did not suggest battle damage. It has been suggested that the British did some clandestine dives to recover such things as the ship's radar. If so, the British search has never been documented. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: MorU031

Sinking of the Newfoundland, The


DESCRIPTION: "We have bred many sailors bold, Brave captains by the score, And ranking with the best of them Is Captain John Blackmore." After a long career of sailing and shipbuilding, he retires, can't stand it, builds the Newfoundland -- and sails her into a wreck
AUTHOR: Solomon Samson?
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (A Glimpse of Newfoundland in Poetry and Pictures)
KEYWORDS: age ship wreck rescue
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, pp. 130-131, "The Sinking of the 'Newfoundland'" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Despite both being about the wreck of a ship named Newfoundland, this has nothing to do with the various songs about the "Newfoundland Disaster"; that Newfoundland was commanded by Captain Kean. - RBW
File: RySm130

Sinking of the Reuben James, The


See Reuben James (File: PSAFB084)

Sinking of the Titanic (Titanic #9)


DESCRIPTION: The Titanic leaves Southampton. After the ship strikes an iceberg, her officers call upon the Carpathia for help. The passengers and crew place women and children in the lifeboats, leaving the men to go down with the ship.
AUTHOR: Probably Richard Brown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Richard "Rabbit" Brown)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The Titanic leaves Southampton, bound for America with happy passengers and crew. After the ship strikes an iceberg, her officers call upon the Carpathia for help, but she is far away. The passengers and crew, realizing the ship is sinking, place women and children in the lifeboats, leaving the men to go down with the ship. The band plays "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sinks (Singer sings the hymn)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck disaster death drowning religious
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND IN: US(So)
ST RcTitaIX (Partial)
RECORDINGS:
Richard "Rabbit" Brown, "Sinking of the Titanic" (Victor 35840, 1927; on TimesAint01)
NOTES: This song can be distinguished from the other Titanic songs primarily by its lack of a chorus, by its description of the SOS call to the Carpathia, and by the singing of "Nearer My God to Thee" at the end. - PJS
Richard Brown in fact not only sang "Nearer..." but did it in a sort of distorted voice, like music heard through water. A cute trick. Although the song was not recorded until 1927, Lyle Lofgren thinks it was written soon after the tragedy, because of the details it has, most of which (except for the playing of "Nearer...") are accurate. Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the Titanic did *not* play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
For an extensive history of the Titanic, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the Titanic songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcTitaIX

Sinne, Sinne, Set Ye


DESCRIPTION: The herder welcomes sunset and complains that he has only a drop of corn husks to eat all day. When a cripple bird passes, dragging its wing he clubs it. The bird cheeps. The cock warns it "come na yon road again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: warning food bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1636, "Sinne, Sinne, Set Ye" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 27, ("Cleaverie, cleaverie, sit i' the sun")
Roud #13066
NOTES: The description follows Chambers because I think I understand it better than I do GreigDuncan8. As far as I can make out, GreigDuncan8 has the herder going hungry until sunset, envying the chickens at home that have been eating all day; when he gets home he clubs a chicken, whom the cock upbraids, saying, "you should have come to bed when I told you to" - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1636

Sinner Man


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to? (x3) All on that day." The remainder of the song is variations on the theme, "Run to the (rock), Rock won't you hide me? (x3)... (rock) will be (a-melting)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: religious punishment nonballad sin
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
BrownIII 616, "No Hidin'-Place" (2 texts, with the "A" text being "No Hiding Place" but the "B" text, which is damaged, probably belonging here)
SharpAp 208, "Sinner Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 61, "Sinner Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 366, "Sinner Man" (1 text)
DT, SINERMAN SINERMN2*
Roud #3408
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Heaven Bell a-Ring" (lyrics)
File: SKE61

Sinner Won't Die No More


DESCRIPTION: "O the lamb been down here and died (x3), Sinner won't die no more." "I wonder what bright angels, angels, angels, I wonder what bright angels, The robes all ready now." ""I see them ships a-sailing... The robes all ready now."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad clothes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 85, "Sinner Won't Die No More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12043
File: AWG085

Sinner's Redemption, The


See All You That Are Unto Mirth Inclined (The Sinner's Redemption) (File: OBC051)

Sinnerin o' Me and My Love, The


DESCRIPTION: The seventeen year old pregnant singer sees her false lover and curses the church and minister of his coming marriage, future wife and sons ["every year a burial"], farm and waters. "The woman never will follow you ... That will love you so well's I do"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity curse pregnancy nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #121, p. 3, ("To-morrow's my lovie's wedding day"); Greig #126, pp. 1-2, "The Sinnerin o' Me and My Love" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan6 1148, "The Sinnerin o' Me and My Love" (3 texts)
Roud #6325
File: GrD61148

Sinners Will Call for the Rocks and the Mountains


DESCRIPTION: "Sinners will call for the rocks and the mountains (x3) When the last trump shall sound." "Jesus will bear the Christians higher (x3) When the last trump shall sound." "Brothers, won't you go to glory with me (x2) When the last trump shall sound."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 651, "Sinners Will Call for the Rocks and the Mountains"
Roud #7572
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When the Stars Begin to Fall" (words)
File: R651

Sioux Indians, The [Laws B11]


DESCRIPTION: A train of white settlers is bound for Oregon. While on their way they are attacked by a band of Sioux. Outnumbered, the whites are nonetheless victorious and finish their journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) battle settler
FOUND IN: US(Ap,Ro,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws B11, "The Sioux Indians"
Randolph 195, The Indian Fighters" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 148-149, "The Indian Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 142-143, "(The Sioux Indians)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 179-181, "Sioux Indians" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 43, "Sioux Indians" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 155-156, "The Indian Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 379, SIOUXIND*
Roud #3235
RECORDINGS:
Alex Moore, "The Sioux Indians" (LC -------, 1940)
Eugene Jemison, "Crossing the Plains" (on Jem01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Sioux Indians" (on NLCR14)
Pete Seeger, "Sioux Indians" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a, AmHist1)
Marc Williams, "Sioux Indians" (Brunswick 240, 1928) (Decca 5011, 1934; on BackSaddle)
NOTES: Despite the title, the Jemison recording is not the same as the song we've called "Crossing the Plains," but is a version of "Sioux Indians," with the Kaw being substituted for the Sioux. - PJS
File: LB11

Sir Aldingar [Child 59]


DESCRIPTION: Aldingar, spurned by the Queen, puts a (blind/drunk) leper in her bed and shows the king. She will be burned and the leper hanged. She finds a (child) champion who defeats Aldingar. He confesses. (The leper is made whole, becomes steward.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: royalty knight adultery trick disease reprieve
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 59, "Sir Aldingar" (3 texts)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 54-67, "Sir Aldingar" (2 texts, one the original from the Percy folio and the other the retouched version in the _Reliques_)
Leach, pp. 185-196, "Sir Aldingar" (2 texts)
OBB 4, "Sir Aldingar" (1 text)
DT 59, SIRALDGR
Roud #3969
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sir Hugh le Blond
NOTES: Child connects this ballad with the story of Gunhild, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III (reigned 1039-1056). A certain superficial similarity may be granted.
Gunhild (or Gunnhild, or Gunnhildr) was the daughter of King Canute (Cnut) and his more-official wife Emma of Normandy (see genealogy in O'Brien, p. viii). This made her the full sister of the future king Harthacanute (Hardacnut, etc. -- I'm going to stop with the alternate spellings now) and the half-sister of Swein and Harold I Harefoot, Canute's sons by his less official wife Aelgifu of Northampton. (Canute had married Aelgifu as his first wife, out of love or at least lust, then married Emma, the second wife and widow of the old king Ethelred II "the Unready" out of politics -- Canute was a conqueror, and marrying the old king's wife smoothed his way. But he did not set aside Aelgifu).
We do not know when Gunhild was born, but it obviously must have been after Canute assumed the throne of England in 1016. This would make her no more than ten in 1027 when she went to Rome with her father. She may well have been much younger. But she was probably betrothed there to Henry, son of the Emperor Conrad II. It was a logical match; Canute, as King of England, Denmark, and Norway (O'Brien, p. xvii) was one of the strongest kings in Europe. The marriage may have helped seal a bargain; the Emperor ceded the province of Schleswig to Denmark at that time (Linklater, p. 139)
But the marriage had not yet taken place when Canute died in 1035. This led to a real mess in England; the presumably-official heir, Harthacanute, had been governing Denmark for his father, and while he succeeded at once to the Danish throne, his absence allowed Harold Harefoot to take the English throne (O'Brien, p. xix). Suddenly Gunhild, as the half-sister of the king rather than his daughter, was worth less in the marriage market. But, somehow or other, the marriage went through (O'Brien, p. 169).
O'Brien, pp. 170-171, tells the rest: "According to William of Malmesbury, after a fairy-tale beginning Gunnhhild's marriage went horribly wrong. Although she was reputedly a dutiful wife, Gunnhild was accused of adultery. In William's story she was offered a chance to prove her innocence through man-to-man combat. Gunnhild herself was not expected to participate; the informant of her alleged infidelity would take on a representative to fight on her behalf. The accuser, William claims, was a man of gigantic proportions and against this daunting individual Gunnhild could find no one willing to defend her except a small pageboy, who was the keeper of a pet starling she had brought with her from England. However... the pageboy won and, triumphant, Gunnhild refused ever to sleep with her husband, Henry, again. William writes that she subsequently divorced him, become a nun, and lived 'to a leisurely old age...'"
She and Henry had stayed together long enough to have a daughter, Beatrice (Barlow, genealogical table I in endpapers), but the girl too ended up in the church (O'Brien, p. 171).
The marital alliance by then hardly mattered anyway. Harold I Harefoot had died in 1040. Harthecanute had followed him on the throne, but died in 1042. Canute's dynasty was extinct (except for poor Gunhild, whom everyone apparently ignored). The English witan gave the throne to Edward the Confessor, the son of the old English king Ethelred II. Edward was the son of Emma, so he was Gunhild's half-brother -- but Emma was by this time pretty much forgotten; the link meant very little.
The similarities between Gunnhild's story and the plot of this ballad are obvious, although we note that "Sir Aldingar" gives a motive for the accusation against the queen, while there seems to be none in the historical case. Entwhistle goes beyond even Child, ringing in William of Malmsbury's statement that a poem about this event circulated in England in his time (twelfth century):
"William of Malmesbury states definitively that a poem about Canure's daughter Gunhild, falsely accused before her husband the Emperor Henry III [emperor 1039-1057] and unexpectedly delivered, was 'nostris adhuc in triviis cantitata" (c. 1140). Brompton (c. 1350) names her accuser and defender, Roddyngar and Mimicon; Mathhew of Westminster gives us Mimecan. There is no doubt that these references are to a poem of traditional nature and content identical with the ballad of Sir Aldingar" (quoted by Chambers, p. 154).
Entwhistle might also have mentioned the account of Matthew Paris, who says that accounts of the wedding feast were still circulating in his time, another three quarters of a century after William of Malmesbury (Keen, p. 34).
About this Champbers is scathing: "But surely there could be no more gratuitous hypothesis than an assumption that a poem which, like Sir Aldingar, comes to us from the Percy MS. of about 1650 can be identical in style with one known to William of Malmesbury in the twelfth century." This is especially so since the English language changed dramatically between the reign of Canute and the time of the Percy manuscript -- the writer of the folio simply would not have understood the Old English poem. Chambers grants that there may be similar legends as the source.
I am not absolutely convinced even of this, although I grant the possibility. Accusations of unchastity against wives are not rare -- witness the fact that the Bible prescribes a trial by ordeal for women accused of hidden adultery (Numbers 5:11-31) -- almost the only instance in the Bible of guilt being assigned without actual evidence. Julius Caesar divorced one of his wives on mere suspicion of adultery. There are dozens of adultery ballads. The number of Scandinavian analogs to this piece cited by Child proves that there is no necessary dependence -- there are too many possible sources for something like this, including even the King Arthur legend.
Nor are boy-champions unusual; we see a sort of twisted parallel in "The Boy and the Mantle" [Child 29]. But the whole business is so obscure that not even Gunnhild's mother Emma, in her self-justifying book, mentions the poor girl (O'Brien, p. 124).
If there is a connection, it has been heavily distorted, because the king and queen in "Sir Aldingar" are Henry and Eleanor (either Henry II or England and Eleanor of Acquitaine, or Henry III and Eleanor of Provence). And, as Chambers points out on p. 157, William of Malmesbury was dead before even Henry II took the throne. One suspects the tale was attracted to Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine because of the accusations (probably false) that Eleanor was unfaithful. (For this, see the notes to "Queen Eleanor's Confession" [Child 156]).
Nor was Gunhild's story well-known in England. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the primary source for English history in this period never mentions Emperor Henry III by that name, although there are a few references to "the Emperor" in this period, and two manuscripts of the Chronicle mention his death in 1057, using his other name "Cona" (Swanton, pp. 186-187). Gunhild daughter of Cnut is not mentioned at all in the Chronicle. There is a brief mention of Gunnhild the niece of Cnut, daughter of an unnamed sister of that King by Wytgeorn king of the Wends (Barlow, genealogical table II in endpapers); Swanton, p. 157 note 15, says that her uncle sent her into exile because he feared her husband was conspiring against him; Barlow, p. 57, while agreeing that she was exiled, more logically dates this to the reign of Edward the Confessor in 1044 (since Edward the Confessor would fear a revival of Cnut's lineage).
Conclusion: While this story might possibly have its roots in the tale of Gunnhild and Henry III, there are plenty of other sources from which such a tale might be assembled. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C059

Sir Andrew Barton [Child 167]


DESCRIPTION: Merchants complain to the King that their trade is being disrupted. The King sends a crew to deal with Barton, the pirate. After a difficult battle marked by great courage and skill on both sides, Barton is defeated and killed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1723
KEYWORDS: sailor sea battle nobility pirate
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1509-1547 - Reign of Henry VII (mentioned as king in some texts of the ballad)
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE,NW,SE)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Child 167, "Sir Andrew Barton" (2 texts)
Bronson 167, "Sir Andrew Barton" (10 versions)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 188-207, "Sir Andrew Barton" (3 texts, one from the folio manuscript and the other the completely rewritten version in the _Reliques_)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 248-258, "Andrew Barton" (3 texts); p. 483 (1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. 15-44, "Sir Andrew Barton" "but including Henry Martyn" (11 texts plus a fragment, 10 tunes; in every text but "L," the robber is Andrew Bardeen or something like that, but many of the texts appear more Henry Martin-like) {K=Bronson's #2 tune for Child #167; B=#46, C=#31 for Child #250}
Leach, pp. 467-475, "Sir Andrew Barton" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 348, "Sir Andrew Barton" (1 text)
OBB 130, "Sir Andrew Barton" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 130-141+329-331, "Sir Andrew Barton" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2850, "When Flora with her fragrant flowere"
DT 167, ANDBART* HENRMRT4*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; notes to #418, ("But when hee saw his sisters sonne slaine") (1 long but incomplete text)
Roud #192
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Henry Martyn" [Child 250] (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" [Child 287] (theme)
SAME TUNE:
My bleeding heart, with grief and care/A Warning to all Lewd Livers (BBI ZN1789)
As I lay musing all alone, Great store of things I thought upon/[Title trimmed. A comparison made upon the Life of Man? Stat. Register, July 16, 1634] (BBI ZN229)
NOTES: In the present state of our knowledge, it is almost impossible to distinguish "Sir Andrew Barton" from "Henry Martyn"; the pirates' names exchange freely, and the basic plot is similar. What is more, the ballads have clearly exchanged elements, especially in America, where mixed versions are the rule. Child did not have to contend with this.
In Child, the basic distinction might almost appear to be length; the versions of "Andrew Barton" are 82 and 64 stanzas, while the texts of "Henry Martyn" do not exceed 13 stanzas. Thus the former looks more literary and the latter more popular. In addition, there are hints of historical background, though much distorted. Still, it is best to check both ballads for a particular version.
See the notes to "Henry Martin" for a summary of opinions on the issue.
The original Andrew Barton is probably historical. James A. Williamson, The Tudor Age, 1953, 1957, 1964 (I use the slightly revised 1979 Longman paperback edition) says on p. 77, "The Earl of Oxford had long been lord Admiral, but the office was legal and administrative and not combatant, and Oxford did not go to sea. Henry, with a view to finding a successor with sea experience, picked out the two young Howards, Thomas and Edward, sons of the Earl of Surrey, and sent them to sea in 1511 to bring to account Sir Andrew Barton, a Scottish officer whose piracies were the complaint of English merchants. Barton was a servant of James IV and a commander of the new Scottish navy. The Howards fought and killed him and added his two privateers as prizes to Henry's fleet."
N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Seas: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649, 1997 (I use the 1998 Norton edition), p. 169, gives a different account of how the battle came about; "There had been several incidents of hostility [between Scotland and England], notably in June 1511 when the Lord Admiral of England, Sir Edward Howard, escorting a convoy to Zealand, accidentally encountered and killed the Scottish pirate Andrew Barton."
Additional information about Barton can be found in Child. As for Edward Howard, note that his father Surrey would was the man who, two years later, fought and won the Battle of Flodden (and was given back his Dukedom of Norfolk as a reward). The Lord Howard who led the English fleet against the Spanish Armada was also a member of this family.
Many American texts refer to Barton fighting a Captain Charles Stuart (replacing the Lord Howard of earlier versions -- a reasonable name, even apart from the Barton battle cited above, since Earl Howard of Norfolk was Admiral of England at the time of the battle with the Armada). Gordon thinks this was Bonnie Prince Charlie, but Barry et al point to the American Charles Stewart (1778-1869) who commanded the U. S. S. Constitution at the end of the War of 1812. - RBW
File: C167

Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee


See Pretty Polly (I) (Moll Boy's Courtship) [Laws O14] (File: LO14)

Sir Cauline


See Sir Cawline [Child 61] (File: C061)

Sir Cawline [Child 61]


DESCRIPTION: Sir Cawline falls ill for love of the king's daughter; she attends him. He desires to prove himself worthy of her; she sends him to vanquish the elvish king. He then defeats a giant threatening to wed her, and survives a lion attack before marrying her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy); the text of "Sir Colllyne," in Scotland National Archive MS. H13/35 is dated c. 1583 by Lyle
KEYWORDS: courting disease royalty knight battle marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 61, "Sir Cawline" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 61, "Sir Cawline" (2 versions)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 61-81, "Sir Cauline" (1 text)
OBB 3, "Sir Cawline" (1 text)
DT 61, SIRCAWL*
ADDITIONAL: Lyle: Emily Lyle, _Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition_, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, pp. 85-93, "(Sir Colin)" (2 parallel texts, one the Percy text, one the "Edinburgh" version of c. 158, plus on pp. 104-105a collation of Lyle's transcription of the Edinburgh text against Stewart's; the Harris tune is on p. 943)
Roud #479
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sir Colin
Sir Collyne
Sir Colling
NOTES: The only copy of this that Child accepted as real is that in the Percy manuscript (which Percy thoroughly corrupted), though Child prints two texts ("Sir Colin" and "King Malcolm and Sir Colvin," from the Harris ms. and Buchan respectively) in an appendix.
Percy's modifications to the text are so thorough that the 210 lines of the Percy manuscript are made into 392 lines in his text.
Based on Child's notes, it would seem that this song was never traditional as we would define the term; all the later versions were derived from the literary text as reworked by Percy. Bronson, however, pointed out that the Harris version *was* found in tradition, even if the text was influenced by Percy (Bronson adds that the result is in many ways simpler and superior to the Percy text; it also has a different ending). It seems that there were folk revivals before The Folk Revival.
It does appear (paraphrasing and expanding comments by Lyle, p. 93) that this ballad existed in two states: A full form, in which Sir Cawline/Colin fights an "elvish knight," a giant, and a lion; this is represented in the Percy and Edinburgh texts. There is also a short form, in the Buchan and Harris texts, in which the fight with the knight is the only major escapade. Although Child considered the long form to be the true version and relegated the other to the appendix, Lyle, pp. 93-94, suggests treating the long form as a "ballad romance," which makes good sense to me. I am less confident of her next stage, which consists of trying to identify and retrovert cases where original six-line stanzas were converted to four-line stanzas; it is her belief that the original "Sir Colin" romance was in six-line stanzas rhymed abcbdb and with a 434343 metrical patter (Lyle, pp. 96-99). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C061

Sir Colin


See Sir Cawline [Child 61] (File: C061)

Sir Colling


See Sir Cawline [Child 61] (File: C061)

Sir Collyne


See Sir Cawline [Child 61] (File: C061)

Sir Edward Noel's Delight


See references under The British Grenadiers (File: Log109)

Sir Gaunie and the Witch


See The Marriage of Sir Gawain [Child 31] (File: C031)

Sir Hugh le Blond


See Sir Aldingar [Child 59] (File: C059)

Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155]


DESCRIPTION: A child tosses the ball into a Jew's/Gypsy's garden. The Jew's daughter/wife lures him into the house, where she murders him, (for ritual purposes?). Dying, he gives instructions for his burial (with a prayer book at his head and a grammar at his feet).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: murder death ritual Gypsy Jew lastwill burial
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(All)) Ireland US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar) Bahamas
REFERENCES (36 citations):
Child 155, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (21 texts)
Bronson 155, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (66 versions)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 54-60, "The Jew's Daughter" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 461-462, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (notes plus an excerpt from Child A)
Belden, pp. 69-73, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (2 texts plus a fragment)
Randolph 25, "The Jew's Garden" (3 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 47-49, "The Jew's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 25A) {Bronson's #38}
Eddy 20, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #48}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 30-32, "Little Harry Huston" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #66}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 119-126, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #66; B=#65 with verbal variants}
Davis-Ballads 33, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (13 texts, 7 tunes entitled "The Jew's Daughter," "It Rained a Mist," "A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High," "Sir Hugh, or Little Harry Hughes," Sir Hugh"; 3 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #39, #54, #3, #34, #6, #47, #53}
Davis-More 30, pp. 229-238, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
BrownII 34, "Sir Hugh; or, The Jew's Daughter" (4 texts)
Hudson 19, pp. 116-117, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (1 short text, lacking the actual murder)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 171-175, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (3 texts, the first also in Davis, with local titles "A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High," "Little Sir Hugh," "Hugh of Lincoln"; 1 tune on p. 403) {Bronson's #3}
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 53-55, "A Little Boy Threw His Ball" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Brewster 18, "Sir Hugh" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #44}
Leach, pp. 425-431, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (4 texts)
Creighton-NovaScotia 8, "Sir Hugh; or The Jew's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 147-149, "Sonny Hugh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 62, "Sir Hugh (The Jew's Daughter)" (3 texts)
OBB 79, "Hugh of Lincoln and The Jew's Daughter" (1 text)
SharpAp 31, "Sir Hugh" (7 texts plus 3 fragments, of which "I" in particular might be something else, 10 tunes){Bronson's #22, #20, #21, #23, #15, #10a, #16, #14, #8, #17}
Sharp-100E 8, "Little Sir Hugh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 273, "The Queen's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 164-166+336, "Sir Hugh" (1 text)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 20, "Little Son Hugh (Sir Hugh)" (1 slightly edited text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #10}
Hodgart, p. 70, "Sir Hugh (The Jew's Daughter)" (1 text)
DBuchan 22, "Sir Hugh" (1 text)
JHCox 19, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (6 texts plus mentions of 8 more)
MacSeegTrav 14, "Sir Hugh" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 81-83, "Hugh of Lincoln" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 5, pp. 13-14, "The Jewish Lady"; p. 15, "The Jew Lady" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, pp. 36-40, "Sir Hugh, or the Jew's Daughter"; "The Fatal Flower Garden"; "It Rained a Mist" (3 texts)
DT 155, SIRHUGH* SIRHUGH1* SIRHUGH2* SIRHUGH3
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #420, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (1 text)
ST C155 (Full)
Roud #73
RECORDINGS:
Cecilia Costello, "The Jew's Daughter (Sir Hugh)" (on FSB5 [as "The Jew's Garden"], FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #55}
[Mrs.?] Ollie Gilbert, "It Rained a Mist" (on LomaxCD1707) {Bronson's #35}
Nelstone's Hawaiians, "Fatal Flower Garden" (Victor 40193, 1929; on AAFM1) {Bronson's #12}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Twa Brothers" [Child 49] (lyrics)
NOTES: A.L. Lloyd reports, "In 1225, in Lincoln, England, a boy named Hugh was supposed to have been tortured and murdered by Jews. A pogrom ensued." - PJS
Lloyd's dating is questionable. Benet (article on "St. Hugh of Lincoln") says 1255. So does Matthews, pp. 94-95. And Child cites the Annals of Waverly and the account of Matthew Paris in support of the 1255 date. The Annals of Waverly have major chronological problems and were probably written after the event (Prestwich, p. 356n; Powick, p. 603n), but Paris's account was written within a few years of the tragedy, so I would consider it close to decisive.
Harvey, pp. 119-120, gives the following account of the pogroms:
"Edward [I] was not satisfied with this state of affairs, for the exorbitant interest charged for money [by the Jews, who alone were allowed to lend at interest at the time] had become notorious.... In 1275, he enacted laws forbidding usury and encouraging Jews to live by normal trade and labour. Unfortunately the Jews did not respond, and succeeded in charging even higher rates than before, and also formed a ring for clipping the coinage.... Adding to the economic difficulties [blamed on the Jews]... was a series of most sinister crimes committed against Christian children, including murder (allegedly ritual) and forcible circumcision. Whatever we may think of the evidence in favour of 'ritual murder'... a number of instances of mysterious child-murder undoubtedly did occur in twelfth- and thirteenth-century England, at least ten being well-documented between 1144 and 1290.
"The evidence against individual Jews was considered conclusive in the case of Hugh of Lincoln (Little Saint Hugh), murdered in 1255, when, after exhaustive trials before the justices, later adjourned before Henry III in person, certain Jews were convicted and hanged."
But also consider Prestwich, pp. 345-346: "There was undoubtedly very considerable prejudice against the Jews in England. There were stories of ritual child-murder and torture, which, although they now appear groundless on the basis of the recorded evidence, were generally believed. The most famous was that of the death of Little St Hugh in 1255, but there were others. The chronicle of Bury St. Edmunds recorded the crucifixion of a bou by the Jews at Northampton." (Rather absurd, since crucifixion was a Roman, not a Jewish, means of execution.)
Prestwich's cautions are quite proper -- it is believed (Prestwich, p. 344) that there were only about 3000 Jews in England at the time; they could hardly have committed all the crimes charged against them. On the other hand, they did suffer severely at the hands of Edward I, who were charged (along with goldsmiths) with being coin-clippers in 1278 (Prestwich, p. 245). Earlier, there had been major anti-Jewish riots in the period when Richard I was preparing his crusade, including an incident when 150 were killed at York, some of them after surrendering (Gillingham, p. 131, who blames the Crusade for whipping up passions about the Jews killing Jesus. According to McLynn, p. 120, the Jews were bringing a gift to the new king, but the mob assumed it was blasphemous).
But Powicke, who devotes roughly eight times as much space to the reign of Henry III as does Harvey, never mentions Hugh or the trials which followed, although he does note (p. 322) Edward I's anti-usury law of 1275 -- and its follow-up, a law of 1290 which expelled the Jews. (Stenton, p. 197, cynically notes that they were no longer "useful" by then -- i.e. the crown had extorted so much money that they were no longer a significant source of revenue. Prestwich, p. 343, observes that he managed to make money even on the exiling of the Jews, because he used the occasion to wring an exaction from the clergy in return for the expulsion. Prestwich on p. 346 notes that the expulsion was not officially reversed until 1656, although many Jews were tolerated by then -- it is said that Elizabeth I's physician was Jewish.)
I also note that ten unexplained child-murders in a century and a half is a rate far below what we experience today (and, frankly, I would be tempted to look at the Catholic clergy, not the Jews).
One part of the prejudice that seems to be accurate is the charge of exorbitant interest. On p. 191 Stenton mentions a calculation that their average rate of interest was 43% (per year), with some instances in excess of 60%. The blame for this does not lie entirely with the Jews; the monarchy in effect was taking a cut, in the form of high licensing fees on the Jews (Stenton, p. 194). So the Jews had to charge enough to live on *and* the pay the royal bribe. (I would love to have heard, say, Richard I explain how that was different from charging interest himself, but of course Richard would never answer to me.) Stenton, p. 193, also tells a tale which sounds surprisingly like this one:
"Already in 1144 Jews were accused in Norwich of the murder of a Christian boy named William, whose story was told within a few years of his death by Thomas of Monmouth, a Norwich monk. William was about 12 when he was found dead ub Thorpe Wood near the city. His father... was already dead, but his mother Elviva was alive and had been offered for William a pot in the kitchen of the archdeacon of Norwich. The man who made the offer took William away with him and called on William's aunt to tell her about it. She told her daughter to follow and see where William was taken. The child said he was taken to a Jew's house. William was next seen dead in Thorpe Wood. The credulity of the populace and their readiness to suspect the Jews made William a miracle worker and consequently a saint. Between 1144 and 1172 his body was four times translated, each time to a place of higher honour.... William was only the first of a series of English boys whose unexplained deaths were attributed to the Jews."
The legend of Hugh of Lincoln became popular in many forms of literature; Benet lists Chaucer's "Prioress's Tale," Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, and a 1459 piece called Alphonsus of Lincoln, which I have not seen.
The link to "The Prioress's Tale" is undeniable, since lines 684-686 (Riverside edition) explicitly compares the tale to that of "yonge Hugh of Lyncoln, slayn also With cursed Jewes, as it is notable, For it is but a litel while ago." I personally don't see much connection, except thematic, to The Jew of Malta.
The charge of ritual murder against the Jews lasted far too long. This song is not the first example, and it is far from the last.
Although Jews suffered regular persecution from Christians from the time the Roman Empire was converted, it was the Crusades which really seemed to start the tendency to attack Jews. Runciman, pp. 134-141, details the extreme misbehavior of the People's Crusade as it set out for Jerusalem in 1098-1099. (Interestingly, the particular mobs responsible for the atrocities almost all ended up being massacred themselves -- not by the Jews, but by Christians whom they also oppressed along the way. There seems to have been a particular sort of bone-headedness among Crusaders which caused them to think any furriner they saw must be a target worth attacking.)
Frey/Thompson, p. 56, note that it was bandied about at the time of the Phagan case (for background, see the notes to "Mary Phagan" [Laws F20]), and on p. 57 mention the Beilis case in Russia, where there were attempts to blame the entire Jewish race for a murder they did not commit.
The fame of "Little Hugh of Lincoln," who is sometimes called a saint, may be by confusion with another Hugh of Lincoln, the bishop of that city (died 1200). Warren, p. 70, says that "Hugh was famous for his saintly life, his great work as a pastor, his sharp tongue, and his pet swan. He had been one of the great characters of the 12th century episcopate." Indeed, he became a standard for other English bishops -- one they rarely met.
Kerr, p. 171, says that "The key [to the success of the city and diocese of Lincoln] lies with one man, Sir Hugh of Avalon, who was a competent and respected bishop during his episcopacy in 1186-1200 and, after his death, a popular author."
Bishop Hugh also became the subject of legend -- e.g. Jones, p. 93, mentions a story (for which he does not cite a source) that he "was helped by an angel who cut off his manhood to relieve him of impure desires." (I must say that this strikes me as unlikely -- there were reports that the great scholar Origen had castrated himself, as did the Slavic Skoptsy sect, but this was not a common Christian behavior, and the Jewish Law explicitly forbids priests from having major mutilations.) Hazlitt, p. 333, says that he was the patron of shoemakers.
In the context, it is ironic to note that OxfordCompanion, p. 495, explicitly notes that Bishop Hugh "condemned the persecution of Jews which spread throughout England in 1190-1." - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C155

Sir Hugh, the Graeme


See Hughie Grame [Child 191] (File: C191)

Sir James the Rose [Child 213]


DESCRIPTION: James the Rose (has killed a squire, and) is forced to flee. He asks his leman's help. She, under pressure, tells his pursuers of his hiding place. James is taken and killed. His leman regrets her actions
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1781 (Pinkerton)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "O heard ye of Sir James the Rose ... he has killed a gallant squire An's friends are out to take him." He visits his lover, the nurse at the House of Marr. He tells her he is looking for a place to hide. Her pursuers ask if she has seen him. As they are about to leave she tells them where he is hiding. He tries to buy them off but they kill him and give his heart to his lover. In despair she drops from sight. "A traitor's end, you may depend, Can be expect'd no better."
KEYWORDS: love death betrayal revenge hiding
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Child 213, "Sir James the Rose" (1 text)
Bronson 213, "Sir James the Rose" (27 versions+1 in addenda, but a large fraction of these are "Sir James the Ross")
DT 213, ]JAMEROS2
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads (London, 1825 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 9-11, "Sir James the Rose (Old Way)"
Roud #2274
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(50), "Tragedy of Sir James the Rose," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1869; also RB.m.143(157), "Sir James the Ross"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir James the Ross" (general plot) and references there
NOTES: Child has only one version of 213 ("O heard ye of Sir James the Rose") but acknowledges a different ballad: "'Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad' (sometimes called 'The Buchanshire Tragedy'), was composed by the youthful Michael Bruce (1767) upon the story of the popular ballad, and has perhaps enjoyed more favor with 'the general' than the original." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C213

Sir James the Ross


DESCRIPTION: Matilda's father wants her to marry John Graham rather than James Ross. James kills John's brother and hides with Matilda while she sends her page to raise John's men. The page betrays James to John Graham. James is killed and Matilda commits suicide.
AUTHOR: Michael Bruce?
EARLIEST DATE: 1825 (Buchan)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "Of all the Scottish northern chiefs... The bravest was Sir James the Rose." He leads 500 warriors. He loves Matilda, daughter of "Buchan's cruel lord," who prefers that she wed Sir John the Graham. John's brother Donald spies on James and Matilda and hears her say "the grave shall be my bridal bed If Graham my husband be." Donald confronts James and is killed. He tells Matilda he has killed Donald and must hide because his own men are "far far distant." He plans to go to raise his men but she convinces him to hide and send a page to raise his men. The page meets Graham and twenty of his men and tells where James is hiding. James fights bravely. Matilda pleas for his life but he is mortally wounded. She kills herself on James's sword. With his dying effort James kills Graham.
KEYWORDS: love death suicide betrayal revenge hiding brother father
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) US(NE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Greig #39, pp. 1-3, "Sir James the Rose" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan2 235, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "Sir James the Rose" (16 texts, many very short, 14 tunes) {A=Bronson's #7, C=#4, D=#3, E=#5, F=#11, G=#12, I=#1, J=#13, K=#10, L=#8, M=#20, N=#19; most of these have no text or only a few lines}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 284-291, "Sir James the Ross" (1 text from manuscript)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 147-154, "Sir James, the Rose" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #25}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 239-254, "Sir James the Ross" (3 texts, 1 tune; of the three texts, "C" is short, while "A" is based on penciled changed George Edwards wrote in the margin of BarryEckstormSmyth) {Bronson's #25}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 75-79, "Sir James the Ross" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #27, 26}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 23-25, "Sir James the Ross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 7, "Sir James the Ross" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 715-719, "Sir James the Rose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 18, "Sir James the Ross" (2 texts, 3 tunes)
Mackenzie 11, "Sir James the Rose" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #16}
DT 213, JAMEROSE
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads (London, 1825 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 11-18, "Sir James the Rose (Modern Way)"
Roud #2274
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(50), "Tragedy of Sir James the Rose," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1869; also RB.m.143(157), "Sir James the Ross"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Child Maurice" [Child 83] (tune)
cf. "Sir James the Rose" [Child 213] (general plot)
NOTES: Child has only one version of 213 ("O heard ye of Sir James the Rose") but acknowledges a different ballad: "'Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad' (sometimes called 'The Buchanshire Tragedy'), was composed by the youthful Michael Bruce (1767) upon the story of the popular ballad, and has perhaps enjoyed more favor with 'the general' than the original." Coffin, The British Traditional Ballad in North America (Philadelphia, 1950), pp. 128-129: "The Child 'Sir James the Rose' ballad is not in America. The American texts [including Pound's from Nebraska] are highly sophisticated and based on 'Sir James the Ross,' a song Child, IV, 156 thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce [disputed by Coffin citing Barry citing Keith 'that Michael Bruce is mistakenly considered the composer....']." Mackenzie regarding his two versions: "[They] represent 'Sir James the Ross,' an unacknowledged adaptation by Michael Bruce, of the old Scottish ballad 'Sir James the Rose' (Child, No. 213)." Confirming Coffin's observation, Karpeles-Newfoundland, Peacock, Creighton-SNewBrunswick, and Creighton-Maritime all are derived from the same text as MacKenzie's.
Greig: "The version now generally known and sung is the one we give. Its composition is credited to Michael Bruce (1746-1767), the author of the well-known 'Ode to the Cuckoo.'"
GreigDuncan2: "Greig does not give his source for the 53-stanza text he prints and, as it may have been a collated text rather than a version from tradition, it is not included here; it resembles A and B."
Greig's text follows Buchan with a few word and punctuation changes. Buchan's text is twenty-six and a half 8-line verses; Greig's is 53 4-line verses. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C213A

Sir John Butler [Child 165]


DESCRIPTION: Men cross a moat by leather boat to Sir John Butler's hall. His daughter Ellen warns him his uncle Stanley is here. He says he is therefore doomed, and, indeed, he is murdered. His wife, in London, dreams his death, confirms it, seeks redress in vain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1750 (Percy folio)
KEYWORDS: family murder dream
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1463 - The Butler Murder
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 165, "Sir John Butler" (1 text)
Roud #4000
NOTES: Child gives a good deal of background to this murder, while admitting to some very substantial questions about it. But he distinctly fails to give some additional background -- notably the fact that this happened during the Wars of the Roses, when battles between noble families were commonplace. And he makes, in my view, far too little of the complicated connections of the families involved.
Lord Stanley was Thomas Stanley, the future Earl of Derby -- and the future husband of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the future King Henry VII. And Ellen Butler? Well, there was an Eleanor Butler who (at least acording to the Bishop af Bath and Wells and King Richard III) was betrothed to King Edward IV, who was king in 1463 -- and who, if she *did* have a relationship with Edward IV, was having it right about the time of this murder. (For more on the Stanleys, see e.g. "The Vicar of Bray"; for the whole mess of Eleanor Butler, see e.g. "The Children in the Wood (The Babes in the Woods)" [Laws Q34].
I'm not claiming that any of this is neccessarily meaningful. But if anyone decides to try to learn more than Child had to say about this ballad, this probably needs to be looked into. - RBW
File: C165

Sir John Gordon


See Thomas Rymer [Child 37] (File: C037)

Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan


See Bonny Barbara Allan [Child 84] (File: C084)

Sir Lionel [Child 18]


DESCRIPTION: (Sir Lionel) hears report (from a lady in distress?) of a murderous boar. Meeting the boar, he slays the beast. In the older versions, the boar's keeper then comes out to demand a price, and the knight then slays the keeper also.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Christie, _Traditional Ballad Airs, vol. i_)
KEYWORDS: animal fight magic
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(High),England) US(Ap,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (24 citations):
Child 18, "Sir Lionel" (6 texts)
Bronson 18, "Sir Lionel" (17 versions)
Leather, pp. 203-204, "Brangywell"; p. 204, "Dilly Dove" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #5, 13}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 434-435, "Sir Lionel" (notes plus a partial reprint of Child A)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 60-61, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #17}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 226-229, "Sir Lionel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #17}
Belden, pp. 29-31, "Sir Lionel" (2 texts, 1 tune, plus fragments of 1 stanza and 1 line respectively) {Bronson's #7}
Randolph 7, "Lord Bangum" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Davis-Ballads 8, "Sir Lionel" (7 texts, 4 tunes entitled "Bangum and the Boar," "Old Bang'em," "Ole Bangim," "Sir Lionel") {Bronson's #12, #10, #8, #15}
Davis-More 10, pp. 72-78, "Sir Lionel" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 191-191, "Sir Lionel" (1 text reprinted from Scarborough-NegroFS, and found also in Davis and Scarborough-NegroFS, with local title "Old Bangum"; 1 tune on p. 407) {Bronson's #8}
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 51-52, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune, the same as that in Scarborough-SongCatcher) {Bronson's #8}
SharpAp 9 "Sir Lionel" (4 fragments, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #16, #15, #11, #9}
Ritchie-Southern, p. 85, "Bangum Rid by the Riverside" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 100-103, "Sir Lionel" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 157-159, "Ole Banghum" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 19, "The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 272, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson't #8}
Niles 13, "Sir Lionel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Chase, pp. 126-127, "Old Bangum and the Boar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, p. 60, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 217, "Old Bangum" (1 text)
DT 18, JOVHUNTR* OLBANGUM*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 24, #2 (1975), p, 5, "Quil O'Quay" (1 short text, 1 tune, from the singing of Nimrod Workman)
Roud #29
RECORDINGS:
Bentley Ball, "Bangum and the Boar" (Columbia A3084, 1920)
Logan English, "Bangum and the Boar" (on LEnglish01)
Samuel Harmon, "The Wild Boar" (AFS 2805B; on LC57) {Bronson's #2}
Frank Hutchison, "Wild Hog in the Woods" (OKeh 45274, 1928)
Jean Ritchie, "Old Bangum" (on JRitchie01)
Lonesome Luke [D. C. Decker] & his Farm Boys, "Wild Hog in the Woods" (Champion 16229, 1931; on KMM)
G. D. Vowell, "Bangum and the Boar" (AFS; on LC57)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Wild Hog
The Jovial Hunter
Rurey Bain
Bangum and the Bo'
Wild Hog in the Woods
Rackabello
NOTES: Many versions of this song have been stripped down to descriptions of the hunt and the fight. Others have subplots concerning Sir Lionel's brothers.
The versions of this called "Wild Hog in the Woods" should not be confused with the fiddle tune of the same name, which is unrelated to any tune I've ever heard with the ballad. Great tune, though - PJS
Flanders, in her notes in "Ancient Ballads," makes the astonishing (for her) admission of how different the common version of this is from the alleged roots: "If 'Old Bangum' can be considered as a direct descendant of the romance Sir Eglamour of Artois, it is surely a classic example of degeneration through oral tradition.... Although the Child 'Sir Lionel' is probably related to the medieval romance, scholars have just as probably been over-enthusiastic in relating 'Old Bangum' songs too closely to 'Sir Lionel.' As Belden, 29, suggests, a song-book or music hall rewriting may well lie between the two."
She adds, "The 'Old Bangum' texts are the only American forms of Child 18. They are known in... England as well, and are characterized by a nonsense refrain which Alfred Williams... notes is meant to sound like a bugle."
Child notes several analogies to this tale in the romances, including part of the story of "Culhwych and Olwen" in the Mabinogion and the tale of "The Avowing of [King] Arthur." Louis B. Hall, The Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain, with introductions and translations by Hall, Nelson-Hall, 1976 gives a modernized version of the latter, and says the following on p. 130 in his introduction to the romance:
"With the wolf practically extinct in England, the wild boar had no enemies except the hunter, and a number of tales describe that hunt. The boar is a fearsome beaast today and was even more so in the fifteenth century. Archaeological evidence indicates that it then stood four feet tall at the shoulder and weighted about 300 pounds. Its two tusks were like butcher knives, and the boar could use them to either stab or rip. Its successive layers of bristles, hide, muscle, and fat were impenetrable to arrows. To attack this beast alone with only spear and sword was exceedingly dangerous." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C018

Sir Neil and Glengyle [Laws M39]


DESCRIPTION: Ann is wooed by Sir Neil and Glengyle. Her brother, hearing a false rumor that Sir Neil has slandered his sister, demands a duel and is killed. Glengyle kills Sir Neil. Ann, horrified by the slaughter, will not have Glengyle and vows to die unwed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1801 (Hogg, _Scottish Pastorals_, according to GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: murder brother sister courting death
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws M39, "Sir Neil and Glengyle"
Greig #109, p. 1, "Sir Niel and M'Van" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 217, "Sir Niel and Macvan" (7 texts, 5 tunes)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 92-95, "Sir Neil and Glengyle" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Mackenzie 20, "Sir Neil and Glengyle" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 590, SIRNEIL
Roud #1914
NOTES: I was not able to read the one broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(44), "Glengyle & Sir Neil" ("In yonder isle beyond Argyle"), unknown, n.d. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LM39

Sir Niel and M'Van


See Sir Neil and Glengyle [Laws M39] (File: LM39)

Sir Niel and Macvan


See Sir Neil and Glengyle [Laws M39] (File: LM39)

Sir Orfeo


See (notes under) King Orfeo [Child 19] (File: C019)

Sir Patrick Spence


See Sir Patrick Spens [Child 58] (File: C058)

Sir Patrick Spens [Child 58]


DESCRIPTION: The King, needing a good sailor, calls upon Sir Patrick Spens to sail (to Norway?) in the dead of winter. Though both Captain and crew fear the trip, they undertake it, and are drowned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: sea storm wreck death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1286 - Death of Alexander III of Scotland
1290 - Death of his granddaughter Margaret "Maid of Norway"
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Child 58, "Sir Patrick Spens" (18 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Bronson 58, "Sir Patrick Spens" (12 versions+1 in addenda)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 98-102, "Sir Patrick Spence" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 17, "Sir Patrick Spens" (3 texts, 2 tunes) {B=Bronson's #3}
BrownII 16, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 179-184, "Sir Patrick Spens" (3 texts)
Friedman, p. 297, "Sir Patrick Spens (Spence)" (2 texts, 1 tune)
OBB 75, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
PBB 66, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
Niles 25, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 144-1445+331-332, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 25-27, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 121, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
DBuchan 50, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 2, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text, a recited version)
TBB 20, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 60-63, "Sir Patrick Spens" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 74-76, "Sir Patrick Spence" (1 text)
DT 58, PATSPENS*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #418, "Sir Patrick Spence" (1 text, with several variants in the notes)
ST C058 (Full)
Roud #41
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lord Derwentwater" [Child 208] (opening lyrics)
cf. "Young Allan" [Child 245] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Patrick Spenser
Sir Patrick Spence
NOTES: Whether this song is historical is disputed. If it *is* historical, it is based on one of the oldest incidents known to balladry: The succession of Scotland in the thirteenth century.
Alexander III of Scotland came to the throne in 1249, a boy not yet ten years old (Magnusson, pp. 96-97). Two years later, he went to England to be knighted and to marry Margaret, the daughter of the English King Henry III and the sister of the future Edward I (Magnusson, p. 97).
Alexander came of age in 1259. Within a couple of years, he was sending embassies to Norway, trying to gain control of the Western Isles and Orkney -- which for many centuries had given their allegiance, such as it was, to Norway (Magnusson, p. 97). Eventually negotiations gave way to war: Alexander wanted the Hebrides, while Norwegian king Haakon wanted to keep them and strengthen his control.
Fry/Fry, p. 74, report that one of Alexander's vassals attacked Skye in 1262. Our sources are all Norwegian, so we don't know whether Alexander was really involved, or how extensive the attack was. What is clear is that both sides sent forces to the western isles, though the ensuing Battle of Largs (1263) was more a series of meeting engagements than a full-scale battle. More damage was done to the combatants by a storm, and king Haakon, having seen his fleet badly damaged, headed for home and died soon after in the Orkneys (Mitchison, p. 33).
With Haakon dead, the Norwegians decided to negotiate once again. A treaty was concluded in 1266, by the terms of which Scotland in effect bought the Hebrides (and at a surprisingly low price; Magnusson, p. 103, thinks the Norwegians demanded the cash only so they could justify giving away land they were no longer willing to fight for).
In practice, the result didn't matter; the folk of the Islaes "paid no more heed to their Scottish than they had to their Norwegian overlords" (MacLean, p. 33). But at least it ended the war. The countries became friendly enough that Alexander's daughter Margaret, by then 19 years old, was married to the 14-year-old grandson of King Haakon in 1281. Margaret's young husband was already Norway's King Eric II; he had ascended in 1280 (Mitchison, p. 37). Margaret didn't see much of his reign, though; she died in 1283, probably in childbirth; the baby girl would come to be known as "Margaret Maid of Norway" (Magnusson, p. 104).
At the time of the elder Margaret's betrothal, the Norwegian connection seemed minor; although Alexander III was a widower (his wife Margaret having died in 1275), he had two living sons. But the younger son, David, died in 1281, and then the heir, who would have been Alexander IV, died in 1284 (Magnusson, p. 105).
Alexander finally decided he had to marry again; he married Yolande (or Yolette) de Dreux in 1285. But it was too late for him. Indeed, the marriage brought his downfall, and led to the end of one of the few relatively peaceful period in Scottish history. On a dark night, on his way to visit his wife after a feast, he somehow fell from his horse and died in 1286 (Magnusson, pp. 106-107; Cook, p. 65). This, incidentally, led to one of Thomas of Ercildoune's most famous prophecies; see the notes to "Thomas Rymer" [Child 37].
When Alexander died in 1286, the only heir of his body was his granddaughter Margaret, daughter of the King of Norway by Alexander's daughter. She was four years old, but was made queen (not without some concern, since Scotland till then had never had a ruling queen; Cook, p. 65). Naturally with a guardian council.
At first, Edward I of England left things mostly to the Scots; he and Alexander III had been cordial (Prestwich, pp. 357-360). But it should be recalled that Edward I had already conquered Wales, and claimed a degree of authority over Scotland. And Margaret was such a tempting target.... For one thing, she was a girl who could potentially be married to his son; for another, Margaret of Norway was not too distantly related to Edward himself, and a potential claimant to the English throne. And Edward, being Edward, had no respect for Scotland, or for anything else that stood in his way (Prestwich, p. 361). Edward firmly interjected himself into the process of trying to bring the girl back to Scotland (Cook, p. 69).
The negotiations were intricate (Magnusson, pp. 110-111; Prestwich, pp. 360-361), since Norway, England, and Scotland were interested in her dynasty (because she stood fairly high in the succession for each), and England, Scotland, and the Papacy were involved in negotiations for her marriage (since she and her proposed husband, the future Edward II, were within the prohibited degrees, being first cousins once removed. A dispensation was eventually obtained; Cook, p. 70).
Poor little Margaret! So much rested on her fate that the histories give us no idea of what she was like; on paper a queen, she was in fact a pawn. Oram says, p. 107, "There is surely no more poignant passage in Scottish history than the tragically short 'reign' of this child monarch." One can only feel sorry for her. She lost her mother, who was only 23, at birth (Oram, p. 107); heir to the thorne before her first birthday she became queen of Scotland at three (Oram, p. 108). Her marriage was decided upon by the time she was six (Oram, p. 108), she left her childhood home at seven, and died at sea without even viewing the land of which she was titular queen! (Oram, p. 109). It was the forceful Edward I, not the Scots, who conducted most of the negotiations with the Norwegians. And one can't help but wonder if Edward's bluster didn't cause the Norwegians to drag things out. Eric II delayed Margaret's return for years.
Edward had theoretically agreed to leave Scotland an independent state after the marriage, and it was agreed that, if Margaret's marriage produced no heirs, Scotland would remain independent (Magnusson, p. 111). But it was quite clear that Edward had every expectation of running things (MacLean, p. 34); he was already acting as if he were regent of Scotland, even though there was a guardian council and the wedding between Margaret and Edward hadn't taken place anyway (Prestwich, p. 363).
Finally Edward fitted out a well-provisioned ship to carry the Queen, and perhaps her father (Cook, p. 71). Eric didn't like that; he preferred to use one of his own ships. It didn't help the poor girl; she died on the trip -- surrounded by the usual rumours of poisoning and murder. And now Scotland *really* had a succession problem. But that is an issue for another song.
Thus the texts of the ballad match some of the facts (fetching home "the king's daughter of Norrowa'"), but ignore the fact that the old king was long dead when the Scottish ship sailed to bring home the princess.
Some have proposed emending the text to describe sending Alexander's daughter *to* Norway, noting that a ship containing several Scottish lords sank on the way home. This is ingenious, but does not seem to fit the rest of the ballad; I would regard this emendation as highly suspect. (Of course, I don't like emendation.)
Just about every recording I've heard of this song seems to use the highly majestic tune sung by Ewan MacColl, but Bronson admits only one other traditional version with a tune akin to MacColl's; nine of his twelve versions are of a different type, and the twelfth (from Johnson) he believes inauthentic.
The song was probably well known in the late eighteenth century, however. Coleridge's 1798 poem "Dejection: An Ode" opens by citing the ballad (the "Late late yestreen I saw the new Moon" verse) and opens "Well! If the bard was weather-wise, who made The grand old ballad of Sir Patrick SPence...." - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C058

Sir Peter Parker


DESCRIPTION: "Sir Peter Parker" relates how he attacked Sullivan's Isle outside Charleston. He receives no support from his superior, Clinton, so the rebels are able to beat off his ship Bristol. Parker decides it's time to return to base
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: rebellion war humorous injury
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 28, 1776 - Clinton and Parker's failed assault on Charleston
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 64-66, "Sir Peter Parker" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NEWWAR*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "At Sullivan's Isle" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A New War Song by Sir Peter Parker
NOTES: The setting is, of course, the American revolution. Having been completely blocked by the colonials in 1775, the British decided on a two-part strategy in 1776. Most of the troops in Boston were shifted to New York (via Halifax), while a second force was sent to attack Charleston, South Carolina. It was to be a fiasco.
To be fair, the whole thing had been directed from London, and handled at too great a distance. According to Cook, p. 245, "orders were issued in December... to embark the Irish regiments at Cork and head across the Atlantic to rendezvous with a fleet in the American waters off Cape Fear, North Carolina. General Clinton would meet them at the end of February with additional reinforcements from Boston, and the combined armies would head for Charleston." Sir Henry Clinton was to head the army in the Charleston assault, while Sir Peter Parker was in charge of the naval forces. Since Clinton was already in America, and Parker was coming from England, the two did not cooperate well.
The first problem was the timing. Atlantic weather saw to it that Parker's fleet, somewhat depleted, arrived in April, not February. This had the unfortunate effect of seriously weakening the troops, who had been at sea for eighty days (Weintraub, pp. 61-62).
Clinton, who had been on the scene, learned that no one even had an accurate map to use when planning the landing. So bad was the British information that, when they tried to bombard Charleston, most of the mortar shells landed in unfortified bogs (Weintraub, p. 62).
Clinton got his troops ashore, but did not attack the crucial colonial position in Fort Moultrie. Clinton opposed the final plan, but Parker was in charge and ordered the assault to go ahead. To get into the harbor, Parker had to try to batter the fort into submission. He failed (Kraus, p. 226), and in the process a colonial shot blew off his breeches (producing the reference to "the wind in my tail," and a sour joke beginning "If honour in the breech is lodged"; Weintraub, p. 62). Other losses were more significant than Parker's pants: Three frigates aground, three ships damaged, one destroyed; the captain of the Bristol lost his right arm.
Clinton and Parker returned to New York. It is likely that both should bear responsibility for the failure, but Parker seems to have borne the brunt of it; when Howe was recalled from his post as commander of British forces in America, Clinton was chosen to succeed him. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: SBoa064

Sir Robert o' Gordonstown


DESCRIPTION: "Oh! wha has na heard o' that man o' renown -- The wizard, Sir Robert o' Gordonstown!" The wizard had cheated the devil of his soul but is tricked into accompanying the Devil to his death.
AUTHOR: William Hay (source: Cumming, GreigDuncan8)
EARLIEST DATE: 1839 (Cumming)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The wicked wizard Sir Robert had cheated the devil of his soul. Afterwards, he didn't even have a shadow: "langsyne had he lost it in far foreign parts" Then he made "a fiend-salamander" in his furnace to learn secrets that allowed him, for example, to ride his coach across thin ice without falling through. One night the Devil disguised himself as the wizard's friend, the Parson o' Duffus, and they drank until the wizard became drunk and confused. "Duffus"'s shape changed to a charger. Apparently realizing that his soul was in danger again, and believing that safety lay in reaching the graveyard at Birnie, Sir Robert rode the [Devil] charger toward Birnie where "The spries o' the earth, an' fiends o' the air" were waiting. The Devil took Sir Robert's soul and that of the Parson of Birnie as well.
KEYWORDS: shape-changing death suicide magic drink horse clergy Devil witch
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1887, "Robert Gordon of Gordonston" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Ford, editor, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland [first series] (Paisley, 1899), pp. 155-159, "Sir Robert o' Gordonstown"
[George Cumming, editor,] The Lintie o' Moray being a Collection of Poems Chiefly Composed for and Sung at the Anniversaries of the Edinburgh Morayshire Society From 1829 to 1841, (Forres, 1851 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 55-58, 81-82, "Sir Roberts o' Gordonstown"
Roud #13117
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mistletoe Bough" (tune, per Cumming)
cf. "The Warlock Laird o' Skene" (motif: wizard rides across a frozen lake)
NOTES: The ballad leaves holes in the story, which Cumming resolves by telling the whole story in an Appendix. The story, but not the ballad, explains that Sir Richard rode to Birnie because he had been advised by "Duffus" that "if he reached and set foot on the holy mould even of the [Birnie] kirk-yard, no power in hell could touch him." In the ballad "Duffus" is misleading Sir Robert into a trap. In the story the Devil follows and catches Sir Robert after being inadvertently misdirected by the drunk Parson of Birnie; that parson's error leads to his own death at the Devil's hands. In the ballad there is no chance that the Devil is misdirected since he is carrying Sir Robert; the death of the Parson of Birnie by suicide -- "for the Parson o' Birnie has put himself doon" -- in the ballad is not explained.
Cuming: "Sir Robert Gordon was second son ofthe Earl of Sutherland. He had received his education partly in Italy, and travelled abroad during his younger days. He was created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1625, and in 1634 was a privy counsellor of Charles I. He was a man of uncommon genius, and in a knowledge of art and science, was far in advance of the age in which he lived. Hence he was deemed a 'wizard,' and was the terror of the common people who believed he was familiar with Satan." - BS
It is interesting to note a legend that a man without a shadow was said to have lost his soul. The loss of his shadow presumably predicted Sir Richard's end. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81887

Sir Robert Peel, The


DESCRIPTION: "In the pleasant month of May, 'twas the year of thirty-eight... It was down in the narrows where they watched for the eel Lay her majesty's steamer called the Sir Robert Peel." Forced to land in America, the ship is burnt to avenge the Caroline
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: ship battle political revenge
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 29, 1837 - The American vessel the Caroline, which had been transporting supplies to the Canadian rebels, is set afire and run over Niagara Falls by Canadians led by Captain Andrew Drew
May 30, 1838 - The Sir Robert Peel halts at Wells Island to take on wood. Raiders led by Bill Johnston attack her, take off her crew, and set her afire to avenge the Caroline
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 76-78, "The 'Sir Robert Peel'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4031
NOTES: For the history of the Canadian rebellion, which led to the events in this song, see the notes on "An Anti-Rebel Song" and "Farewell to Mackenzie."
This song is item dA33 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: FMB076

Sir Steeple


DESCRIPTION: Sir Steeple courted "queer widow Glib" for her money and the chance for knighthood if they were married. "Together they gadded to concerts and halls." At the wedding the parson says "Your wife's rather short" "In choosing two evils I've chosen the least"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: greed marriage money humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 819, "Sir Steeple" (1 text)
Roud #6213
File: GrD4819

Sir William


See references under "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" [Child 110] (File: C110)

Sir William Gower


See Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22] (File: LK22)

Sister Cyarline


See Went to the River (I) (File: R258)

Sister Seusan


DESCRIPTION: "Sister Sue and my (Aunt/gal) Sal, Gwine to git a home bime by-high. All gwine to lib down shin-bone al; Gwine to git a home bime by." Various verses on working, sailing, complaints. Noted as a Barbadian hand over hand.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1899 (Bullen, _The Log of a Sea Waif_)
KEYWORDS: worksong shanty
FOUND IN: US West Indies
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Harlow, pp. 200-201, "Gwine to Git a Home Bime By" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 390-391 "Sister Susan" (1 text, tune) [AbEd, p. 299]
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Shinbone Al
NOTES: Bullen transcribed this shanty, and described the time he first heard it in his book The Log of a Sea Waif. He also included it later included in his collection Songs of Sea Labor. Hugill mentions that "Shinbone Alley" is a place name often referred to in American Negro songs. - SL
File: Hugi390

Sister Susan


See The Old Maid's Song (File: R364)

Sister's Husband, The


See Fair Annie [Child 62] (File: C062)

Sitting on Top of the World


DESCRIPTION: Singer's woman leaves him, then says "Come back... I need you so". He spurns her: "If you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree...." He'll find another woman. Ch.: "But now she's gone, and I don't worry/Because I'm sitting on top of the world"
AUTHOR: Probably Walter Vincson (Digital Tradition lists Lonnie Carter and Walter Jacobs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Mississippi Sheiks)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness love travel abandonment floatingverses lover
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, STTNTOP*
Roud #7689
RECORDINGS:
Beale St. Rounders, "Sittin' On Top of the World" (Vocalion 1555, 1930)
(Joe) Evans & (Arthur) McClain, "Sitting On Top of the World" (Banner 32211/Oriole 8079/Perfect 180/Romeo 5079, 1931)
Shelton Brothers, "I'm Sittin' On Top of the World" (Decca 5190, 1936)
Mississippi Sheiks, "Sitting on Top of the World" (OKeh 8784, 1930; OKeh 45506, 1931)
Scottdale String Band, "Sittin' On Top of the World" (OKeh 45509, 1931; rec. 1930)
Doc Watson, "Sitting On Top of the World" (on WatsonAshley1)
Clarence Williams Jug Band, "Sitting On Top of the World" (OKeh 8826, 1930)
Bob Wills, "Sittin' On Top of the World" (Vocalion 03139, 1936 [rec. 1935])
SAME TUNE:
Mississippi Sheiks, "Sitting On Top of the World #2" (OKeh 8854, 1931; rec. 1930)
NOTES: This song should not be confused with the Tin Pan Alley song, "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (which goes on, "Just rollin' along, just rollin' along"), although the Mississippi Sheiks may have been ironically quoting from it. - PJS
File: dtSTTNTO

Siul a Ghra


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

Siul a Gra


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

Six Days Shalt Thou Labor


DESCRIPTION: "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thou art able, And on the seventh -- holystone the decks and scrape the cable" (or "the seventh the same, and clean out the stable," etc.) A (sailor's) complaint about hard work and dishonoring the Sabbath
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1840 (Two Years Before the Mast)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 228, "For Six Days Do All That Thou Art Able" (1 text)
Roud #16857
NOTES: The first two lines of this are quoted in various forms; the description contains the earliest form I know, from Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. But it seems to have generalized.
We might add that, while some of the tasks described in the song are make-work, make-work was necessary at sea, especially aboard a naval vessel that had many more hands than were ordinarily needed to run the ship. Almost none of the sailors could read or do much except sail a ship; their only entertainment was grog (which had to be rationed, both because the supply was finite and because they had to be sober enough to work the ship) and maybe music. Had they not been kept busy, they would have gone stir-crazy -- or mutinied. - RBW
File: Br3228

Six Dukes Went a-Fishing


DESCRIPTION: (Six dukes) go fishing and find the body of the (some Duke). His body is brought (home/to London); the embalming is described in rather gory detail. His burial is described in language reminiscent of "The Death of Queen Jane"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1690 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: death burial nobility corpse funeral
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South)) US(NE)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Bronson (170), 2 versions in Appendix B to "The Death of Queen Jane," though these are not all the versions of the song known to Bronson
Flanders/Brown, p. 219, "Two Dukes" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 78-79, "Two Dukes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 159-160, "The Duke of Bedford" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #12}
PBB 48, "The Duke of Grafton" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 21, "The Duke of Bedford" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 97, "Six Dukes Went a-Fishing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 150, "Six Dukes went a-fishing" (1 text)
BBI, ZN316, "As two men were a walking, down by the sea side"
ST FO078 (Partial)
Roud #78
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Death of Queen Jane" [Child 170] (lyrics)
NOTES: The person referred to in this ballad is hard to determine. One text refers to the Duke as the "Duke of Grantham." There were three barons of Grantham (died 1770, 1786, and 1859; the third Baron was made earl in 1833), but their circumstances do not seem to fit the ballad. In any case, they were not dukes. - AS, RBW
In another text, the Duke is lord of Grafton. Grafton was a very late and temporary dukedom; Henry Fitzroy (the illegitimate son of Charles II) briefly held the title. Grafton is notable only for leading a Guards regiment during the Glorious Revolution, when he abandoned James II to support William and Mary. (There is, however, a broadside, BBI ZN2703, "Unwelcome Tydings over spreads the Land," entitled "Englands Tribute of Tears.. Death..Duke of Grafton.. 9th. of October, 1690.") A later Duke, Henry Fitzroy, third Duke of Grafton (1735-1811), was Prime Minister 1767-1770, and partly responsible for the colonial problems leading to the American revolution (Brumwell/Speck, p. 166), but this is obviously too late. So are his successors.
If we ignore the names and look at the internal evidence of the song, perhaps the least implausible candidate is William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who was widely regarded in England as having sold Normandy back to the French. King Henry ordered his exile in 1450 (to spare his life), but the ship he was sailing on was intercepted and Suffolk taken off. He was beheaded and his body thrown on the shore on May 2, 1450 (Gillingham, pp. 62-63).
Rumor (probably false) had him linked romantically with Queen Margaret of Anjou, which would partly explain the line "royal Queen Mary went weeping away" in the "Grafton" text.
(It's interesting to note, incidentally, that de la Pote was married to Chaucer's granddaughter, according to Kerr, p. 111. One might speculate that a member of the family might have originated this poem -- but there is no evidence that Chaucer's skills were passed on to his offspring.)
Another possibility, which as far as I know is original to me, is that the reference is actually to Richard Woodville, first Earl Rivers. Rivers was never a Duke -- indeed, he was only briefly an earl, and not a landed one. But he was the father of Queen Elizabeth Woodville (wife of Edward IV), which made him a sort of vague member of the royal family, which might cause him to be called a duke. Plus, he lived in Grafton (according to a source I can no longer recall). Rivers was executed in 1469 by members of the Neville (anti-Edward) faction in the second major phase of the Wars of the Roses (Ross, p. 80; OxfordCompanion, p. 809).
Another difficulty is that, until relatively recently, England almost never had more than eight active Dukedoms (Buckingham, Clarence, Exeter, Gloucester, Lancaster, Norfolk, Suffolk, York), and usually fewer (e.g. the only Dukes of Lancaster who were not also King were Henry of Derby and his son-in-law John of Gaunt). England, until the eighteenth century, had a limited peerage; the first three Georges nearly doubled the number of peers, creating the first significant class of landless Lords; the purposes, of course, were political.
I guess it's safe to conclude that this story is badly garbled. - RBW
To these possibilities, Sharp's 100 English Folksongs adds the son of the fourth Duke of Bedford, killed by a fall from his horse in 1767. - PJS
And, in an interesting twist, the fourth duke of Bedford was part of the Grafton government of 1770, according to OxfordCompanion, p. 92. But this, of course, appears to be later than the earliest broadside texts. At least Bedford was a real dukedom, attested to in some versions of the text, so the song might have been adjusted. - RBW)
See also Mary Rowland, 'Which Noble Duke?', FMJ 1965 - RBW, following WBO
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: FO078

Six Girls


See The Six Sweethears (File: HHH605)

Six Horse-Power Coaker, The


DESCRIPTION: An old run-down motor that still has a lot of life left in it fails one day as the weather worsens and they have a dory in tow. An orphan boy comes to the rescue in a skiff and is able to start the motor. They take on the boy from that time forward.
AUTHOR: A.R. Scammell
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: recitation technology talltale ship rescue
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Doyle2, p. 74, "The Six Horse-Power Coaker" (1 text)
Blondahl, pp. 68-69, "The Six-Horsepower Coaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7310
NOTES: The author, Arthur Reginald Scammell (mistakenly spelled with one "l" in [Doyle]), has written many poems, songs and even stories with Newfoundland themes. One of his more famous songs is, "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground." Some collections of his works include: My Newfoundland: Stories, Poems, Songs (St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications, 1988) and "Newfoundland Echoes" (St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications, 1988). Collected Works of A. R. Scammell was also published by Harry Cuff in 1990.
The boy in the song is referred to as being a "bedlamer boy" which is a corruption of the French phrase, "bete de la mer" used in Newfoundland to refer to half-grown seals and boys. See: Harold Horwood, Newfoundland (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada , 1969), p. 84. - SH
File: Doy74

Six Jolly Miners


DESCRIPTION: About "six jolly miners." They come from all over Britain, "but all of their delight was to split those rocks in twine." "Sometimes we have good credit, boys, sometimes we've none at all." "We'll call for liquors plenty and drink our healths all round."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938
KEYWORDS: work mining drink nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North,South)Scotland(Bord)) Canada(Mar) US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 238, "Six Jolly Miners (1 text with supplements, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 286-287, "Six Jolly Miners" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, p. 176, "The Jolly Miner " (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #877
RECORDINGS:
Louis Rowe, "Six Jolly Miners" (on FSB9)
File: K238

Six King's Daughters, The


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

Six Little Girls A-Sliding Went


See Three Little Girls A-Skating Went (File: R588)

Six Men and One Woman Taken Off the Ice at Petty Harb'r


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you hardy Fishermen, And hark to what I say, And hear how six were rescued Near Petty Harbor Bay." Stranded overnight on the ice, they desperately signal for help. Spotted at last, the Ingraham comes to rescue them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Harbour Grace Standard)
KEYWORDS: wreck rescue
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 80, "Six Men and One Woman Taken Off The Ice at Petty Harb'r" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: RySm080

Six Months Ain't Long


DESCRIPTION: Singer reports that "all I've got's done gone"; he was framed by an upright judge and sentenced to six months in jail for shooting up the town. Ch.: "Six months ain't long, ain't long my dear...six months ain't long for me to be gone/oh darling...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Rutherford & Foster)
KEYWORDS: captivity love violence crime prison punishment trial judge prisoner
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
Leonard] Rutherford & [John] Foster, "Six Months Ain't Long" (Brunswick 490, rec. 1930; on KMM)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Last Gold Dollar" (lyrics)
cf. "Six Months in Jail Ain't So Long" (subject)
NOTES: The similarity to "Six Months in Jail Ain't so Long" is primarily in the situation, not the song. The lyrics are different, the tune is different, I split them. - PJS
File: Rc6MoLo

Six Months in Jail Ain't So Long


DESCRIPTION: "Six months in jail ain't so long, baby, It's workin' on the county farm. Got my pick an' shovel now, baby, Yo' true lub is gone. Who's gwine to be yo' true lub, baby, When I'm gone? Who gwine to bring you chickens... When I'm workin' on the county farm?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: prison lover food work
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 231, "Work-Song" (1 short text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" (theme)
cf. "Six Months Ain't Long (subject)
File: ScNF231A

Six O'Clock Bells Ringing


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

Six O'Clock Bells Ringing (II)


See The Bells are Ringing (Eight O'Clock Bells) (File: MSNR086)

Six Questions


See Captain Wedderburn's Courtship [Child 46] (File: C046)

Six Sweethearts, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls courting "six girls all at once." He enjoys it greatly until he starts to forget the girls' names. The girls unite to pay him back. He dreams of what else they might do -- and of being a Turk and marrying all of them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: courting betrayal dream
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H605, p. 340, "The Six Sweethearts" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 128, "Six Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2704
File: HHH605

Sixpence


See Sing a Song of Sixpence (File: GGGSiSo6)

Sixteen Come Sunday


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

Sixteen Thousand Miles from Home


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I'm sixteen thousand miles from home... To think that I should humble down To come out here stone-breaking." The new immigrant is met by a local contractor, who flatters him and tricks him into a menial job. (The singer prefers to join the army)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: emigration work
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 67, 131-132, "Sixteen Thousand Miles from Home" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 72-73, "Sixteen Thousand Miles from Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 32-33, "Sixteen Thousand Miles from Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 195, "Sixteen Thousand Miles" (1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 122-124, "I'm Sixteen Thousand Miles from Home" (1 text)
File: MA067

Sixteen Tons


DESCRIPTION: "Now some folks say a man is made out of mud, But a poor man's made out of muscle and blood." The singer describes the hard life in the mines -- and the debts incurred. "St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go; I owe my soul to the company store."
AUTHOR: Merle Travis
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (recorded by author)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes poverty mining
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 154, "Sixteen Tons" (1 text, 1 tune)
Green-Miner, p. 279-281, "Two by Travis": p. 295, "Sixteen Tons"(1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TON16
Roud #15162
RECORDINGS:
George Davis, "Sixteen Tons" (on GeorgeDavis01)
Tennessee Ernie Ford, "Sixteen Tons" (Capitol 3262, 1955)
B. B. King, "Sixteen Tons" (RPM 451, n.d.)
Merle Travis, "Sixteen Tons" (Capitol 48001, 1947; on 78 album "Folk Songs of the Hills", Capitol AD 50; rec. 1946)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "'31 Depression Blues" (lyrics)
File: LoF154

Sixteen Years, Mama


DESCRIPTION: The daughter says that at 16 it is time she was wed. The mother offers her daughter a sheep instead; daughter would weep. Mother offers a cow; daughter would frown. Mother offers a man; daughter says "as soon as ever you can... Married I'd like to be"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (IRClare01,Voice15)
KEYWORDS: dialog mother bargaining animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #12942
RECORDINGS:
Mary Delaney, "Fourteen Last Sunday" (on IRTravellers01)
Mikey Kelleher, "Daughter, Dearest Daughter" (on IRClare01)
Tom Lenihan, "Sixteen Years, Mama" (on Voice15)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (subject)
cf. "Lazy Mary" ("She Won't Get Up") (subject)
NOTES: This is "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" without the whistle.
The last verse of Mikey Kelleher's "Daughter, Dearest Daughter" on IRClare01 is the "father and mother in yonder bed do lie" verse from "Blow the Candle Out" [Laws P17]. - BS
File: Rc16YrsM

Sixty Years Ago


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

Skeppet Bernadotte


DESCRIPTION: Swedish capstan shanty. Translation - Ship sails from Cardiff, runs into various mechanical problems and bad weather and are left with nothing but bread to eat.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sternvall, _Sang under Segel_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty ship technology food
FOUND IN: Sweden
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 469-470, "Skeppet Bernadotte" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
File: Hugi469

Skeptic's Daughter, The


See Rosedale Waters (The Skeptic's Daughter) (File: R601)

Skerry's Blue-Eyed Jane


DESCRIPTION: The singer rides up to a "lovely maid," and asks if she will come away with him. She refuses; she loves another. He says her love is married. She says he lies, and if her love were here, he would slay the singer. The singer reveals that he is her love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation reunion disguise
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H737, pp. 309-310, "Skerry's Blue-Eyed Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3816
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
File: HHH737

Skew Ball


See Skewball [Laws Q22] (File: LQ22)

Skewbald Black, The


See The Horse Wrangler (The Tenderfoot) [Laws B27] (File: LB27)

Skewball [Laws Q22]


DESCRIPTION: (Skewball) and one or more other horses run a race; the crowd favors another animal. (Half way through the course), Skewball tells his rider he will win. He pushes on to victory (and drinks a toast with his rider)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B25)
KEYWORDS: horse racing promise
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,SE,SO) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Laws Q22, "Skewball"
BrownII 136, "Skew Ball" (2 fragments)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 68-70, "Stewball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 62-64, "The Noble Skewball" (1 partial text plus a British version in a footnote, 1 tune)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 102-110, "Stewball" (4 texts, 1 tune, linked to this by the horse's name Stewball though the versions often seem to pick up pieces of other racing songs, notably "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27])
Darling-NAS, pp. 151-152, "Stewball" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 8, "Squeball" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 395, "Stewball" (1 text)
DT 349, STWBLHOR STWBLHR2
Roud #456
RECORDINGS:
"Bowlegs" [no other name given], "Stewball" (AFS 1863 B4, 1933)
Harold B. Hazelhurst, "Stewboy" (AFS 3143 B3, 1939)
Harry Jackson, "Old Blue Was a Gray Horse" (on HJackson1)
Ed Lewis & prisoners, "Stewball" (on LomaxCD1703)
A. L. Lloyd, "Skewball" (on Lloyd3, Lloyd6)
Pete Seeger, "Stewball" (on PeteSeeger43)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 999[some lines illegible], "Skew Ball" ("Come gentlemen sportsmen I pray listen all"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 11(3533), Harding B 15(289a), Harding B 15(289b), Harding B 15(290a), Firth c.19(78), Firth c.19(79), Harding B 11(73), Firth b.26(236), "Skew Ball"; Harding B 28(274), Harding B 25(1784), Harding B 25(1785), Harding B 6(54), G.A. Gen. top. b.29(24/2) [some words illegible] "Skewball"; Firth b.25(297), Johnson Ballads 1406, 2806 c.18(282), Firth c.26(51), "Scew Ball"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27] (plot)
cf. "Little Dun Dee" (plot)
NOTES: This seems to have given rise to a work song fragment, "Old Skubald"; see Darling-NAS, p. 325. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LQ22

Skibbereen


DESCRIPTION: A boy asks his father why he left Skibbereen when he is always speaking of it. The father lists reasons: First came the blight. Then the landlord took the land. Then he joined the 1848 rebellion, and had to flee. The boy promises revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion hardtimes landlord exile starvation
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1847/8 - Greatest of several Irish potato famines
1848 - Irish rebellion
FOUND IN: Ireland Australia Canada(Ont) US(MW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 52-53, "Skibbereen" (1 text)
PGalvin, p. 46, "Skibbereen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 163, "Skibbereen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean, pp. 22-23, "Skibbereen" (1 text)
DT, SKIBREEN*
Roud #2312
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "Skibbereen" (on Abbott1)
Freddy McKay, "Skibbereen" (on Voice08)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small)" (subject: The Potato Famines) and references there
NOTES: The 1848 rebellion was the result of many factors. One was hunger -- the potato blight drove food prices beyond the reach of common people; in the end, millions died and many more went to America. For details, see the notes to "Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small)."
Another was land hunger; the preceding decades had forced many Irish smallholders off their lands while allowing the rich (usually English) to enlarge their holdings. By the time of the blight, most Irish were working holdings of five acres or less; there simply wasn't enough land for the population.
The image of the landlord squeezing the tenants is also accurate. Though landlords in Ireland were always unusually ruthless, things got worse in the post-blight period. The landlords preferred raising stock, with a prospect for selling it, to helping peasants (who supplied only labor). The poor laws of the period helped them clear off the land: A peasant who appealed for food because his crops were taken by the blight automatically lost his lease. Between 1851 and 1857, the number of smallholdings in Ireland fell by about a sixth.
Finally, revolution was in the air; almost all of Europe (except England) was in turmoil.
Unfortunately for the rebels, the very factors that caused the revolt meant that it had no strength and could gain no foreign help. And England, with a stable government at home and all her enemies distracted, could deal with the rebellion at its leisure.
I don't know that it's significant that Skibbereen is described as the rebel's home place. But it's interesting, since Skibbereen was where O'Donovan Rossa founded the Phoeni National and Literary Society -- which, despite its name, was an armed rebel group -- though this was abouta decade after1848. (For this story, see Terry Golway, For the Cause of Liberty, p. 131. For Rossa, see the notes to "Rossa's Farewell to Erin.") - RBW
File: PGa046

Skin and Bones (The Skin and Bones Lady)


DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman, all skin and bones." The old woman decides to go to church. At the church she encounters a (rotting?) corpse. She asks the (parson/clock), "Will I be thus when I am dead." When told "Yes," she screams and/or dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Gammer Gurton's Garland, revised edition)
KEYWORDS: death questions
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Belden, pp. 502-503, "Old Woman All Skin and Bone" (3 texts)
Randolph 69, "The Skin-and-Bone Woman" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 142, "Old Woman All Skin and Bones" (4 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more; the "B" text seems to have picked up a "Worms Crawl In" chorus)
Brewster 53, "The Skin-and-Bone Lady" (1 short text, clearly this though it lacks the "skin-and-bone" reference)
Eddy 86, "The Skin-and-Bone Lady" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 11-12, "[Skin and Bones]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 20, "Skin and Bones" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 167, "The Skin-And-Bone Lady" (2 texts)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 180-181, "The Old Woman All Skin and Bones" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 44-46, "Old Woman All Skin and Bone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 293, "There was a lady all skin and bone" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #92, pp. 86-88, "(There was a lady all skin and bone)"
Chase, p. 186, "The Old Woman All Skin and Bones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, p. 586, "Old Woman All Skin and Bone" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SKINBONE
Roud #501
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "There Was an Old Woman All Skin and Bones" (on USWarnerColl01)
File: R069

Skin the Goat's Curse on Carey


DESCRIPTION: Skin the Goat says before he sails that he will give Carey, the informer, his curses, such as, "by some mistake may he shortly take A flowing pint of poison." Skin the Goat promises that "when I die, my old ghost will sit on his bed-post"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: transportation humorous betrayal curse Ireland
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Chronology of the Phoenix Park murders (source: primarily Zimmermann, pp. 62, 63, 281-286.)
May 6, 1882 - Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke are murdered by a group calling themselves "The Invincible Society."
January 1883 - twenty seven men are arrested.
James Carey, one of the leaders in the murders, turns Queen's evidence.
Six men are condemned to death, four are executed (Joseph Brady is hanged May 14, 1883; Daniel Curley is hanged on May 18, 1883), others are "sentenced to penal servitude," and Carey is freed and goes to South Africa.
July 29, 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell kills Carey on board the "Melrose Castle" sailing from Cape Town to Durban.
Dec 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell is convicted of the murder of James Carey and executed in London (per Leach-Labrador)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 85, "Skin the Goat's Curse on Carey" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
NOTES: For another broadside on the same subject see
Bodleian, Harding B 26(605), "'Skin the Goat's' Letter" ("You jolly old boys just hold your noise"), unknown, n.d.
Zimmermann p. 62: "The Phoenix Park murders and their judicial sequels struck the popular imagination and were a gold-mine for ballad-writers: some thirty songs were issued on this subject, which was the last great cause to be so extensively commented upon in broadside ballads."
Zimmermann p. 284: "'Skin the Goat' was the nickname of James Fitzharris, the cabman who drove the murderers of Lord Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke to and from Phoenix Park. He was sentenced to penal servitude for 'conspiracy' because he refused to identify his passengers." - BS
File: Zimm085

Skinner on the Dock


DESCRIPTION: The singer leaves Lockport (on the Erie Canal), curses out Skinner, and describes some of his crewmates on the canal boat.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy canal moniker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1825 - Erie Canal opens (construction began in 1817)
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 466-467, "Skinner on the Dock" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Legman in Randolph-Legman posits that these are the "lost" first verses of "The Erie Canal." - EC
File: RL466

Skinner, Skinner, You Know the Rule


DESCRIPTION: "Skinner, skinner, you know the rule, Eat your breakfast and curry your mule, Curry your mules and curry them right, Let's get on the big boat next Saturday night." The singer complains about (work? and) his troubles with his woman
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad animal
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, p. 23, "Skinner, Skinner, You Know the Rule" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9999
NOTES: A "skinner" is a teamster. - RBW
File: MWhee023

Skinner's Song


DESCRIPTION: "I looked at de sun and de sun looked high, I looked at de captain and he wunk his eye, And he wunk his eye, and he wunk his eye, I looked at de captain and he wunk his eye." "I looked at de sun and de sun looked red... de captain... he turned his head."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 230, "Skinner's Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "On the Road Again" (form)
NOTES: A skinner is a teamster. Scarborough explains that "The Negro is not eager to work overtime." Understandable, since he certainly wouldn't get paid for it!
Scarborough's fragment doesn't look quite like anything else I've seen, but it feels as if it's derived from "On the Road Again," or something in the "Joseph Mikel" family. One of those railroad/rambler songs, anyway. - RBW
File: ScaNF230

Skinniest Man I Ever Knew, The


See The Thinnest Man (File: PHCFS175)

Skip to My Lou


DESCRIPTION: Various stanzas, all with the chorus "Skip to my Lou, my darling": "Lost my partner, what'll I do?" "I'll get another one prettier than you!" "Flies in the buttermilk, shoo shoo shoo!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Randolph 516, "Skip to My Lou" (5 texts plus 2 excerpts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 395-397, "Skip to my Lou" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 516A)
Hudson 152, p. 300, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 166-169, "Skip to My Lou" (1 very full text)
Cambiaire, pp. 131-132, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 167-168, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 30, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 294-295, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 99, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 60, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 193-199, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune, plus figures)
Darling-NAS, pp. 256-257, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 90, "Skip To My Lou" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 288, "Skip to My Lou" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 389, "Skip To My Lou" (1 text)
DT, SKIPLOU
Roud #3593
RECORDINGS:
James Crase, "Skip to My Lou" (on MMOKCD)
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Skip To My Lou" (Crown 3188/Montgomery Ward 3025, 1931)
Pete Daley's Arkansas Fiddlers, "Skip to My Lou" (Continental 3012, n.d.)
Uncle Eck Dunford, "Skip to my Lou, My Darling" (Victor 20938, 1927; on CrowTold01)
Georgia Organ Grinders, "Skip To My Lou, My Darling" (Columbia 15415-D, 1929)
Spud Gravely & Glen Smith, "Skip to My Lou" (on HalfCen1)
John D. Mounce et al, "Skip to My Lou" (on MusOzarks01)
Ritchie Family, "Skip to My Lou" (on Ritchie03)
Pete Seeger, "Skip to My Lou" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02) (on PeteSeeger17) (on PeteSeeger32) (on PeteSeeger21) (on PeteSeeger22) (on PeteSeeger23)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Waltz the Hall" (lyrics)
File: R516

Skipper Dan


DESCRIPTION: The Tiger is ready to go out. The singer on Sunday tries to borrow money from Skipper Dan. Skipper Dan refuses because the singer would get drunk. The singer replies that he will sell his rags to get money for liquor.
AUTHOR: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: drink sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 97, "Skipper Dan" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lehr/Best: "No doubt more verses exist." - BS
File: LeBe097

Skipper Tom


DESCRIPTION: "I scarce been in bed three ticks of the clock When at me back door I heard a loud knock." Skipper Tom wakes the singer because he has a big fish on the line. The big fish gets away. They go closer to shore to get smaller fish.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: fishing sea ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 143-144, "Skipper Tom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9967
File: Pea143

Skipper's Wedding, the


DESCRIPTION: "Good neighbours, I'm come for to tell you, Our skipper and Moll's to be wed; And if it be true what they're saying, Egad, we'll be rarely fed." The available foods are listed, as are the odd characters who will be present
AUTHOR: Words: William Stephenson ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay); Stephenson died 1836
KEYWORDS: marriage party music food
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 24-26, "The Skipper's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR024 (Partial)
Roud #2620
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blythesome Bridal" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (tune)
File: StoR024

Skon Jungfrun Hon Gangar Sig Till Sogsta Berg (The Pretty Maid Climbs the Highest Mountain)


DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. A maid's her betrothed sails away. After (three) years she agrees to marry another. He returns just after the wedding, she laments it is too late, she thought he was dead. He says he will be soon, write her a farewell and kills himself.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sternvall, _Sang under Segel_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. A maid's her betrothed sails away. After (three) years she agrees to marry another. He returns just after the wedding, she laments it is too late, she thought he was dead. He says he will be soon, write her a farewell and kills himself. (In some versions it is the bride who commits suicide.)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor separation suicide wedding return reunion betrayal
FOUND IN: Sweden
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 545-548, "Skon Jungfrun Hon Gangar Sig Till Sogsta Berg" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Out In the Moonlight (I Will Love Thee Always)" (plot)
cf. "Susannah Clargy [Laws P33]" (plot) and references there
File: Hugi545

Skye Boat Song (Over the Sea to Skye)


DESCRIPTION: "Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing... Carry the lad that's born to be king Over the sea to Skye." The singer grieves over the dead of Culloden, and wishes Bonnie Prince Charlie a safe escape
AUTHOR: Words: Harold Boulton / Music: Annie MacLeod
EARLIEST DATE: 1884 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites ship escape sea royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1720-1788 - Life of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
1722-1790 - Life of Flora MacDonald
1745-1746 - '45 Jacobite rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite rebellion is crushed, most of the Highlanders slain, and Charlie forced to flee for his life.
Jun 28-29, 1746 - Aided by Flora MacDonald, and dressed as her maidservant, Charles flees from North Uist to Skye in the Hebrides.
Sep 20, 1746 - Charles finally escapes to France
FOUND IN: Britain US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Brewster 79, "Speed, Bonnie Boat" (1 fragment plus a copy of Boulton's original text)
DT, SKYEBOAT
Roud #3772
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(121) "Over the Sea to Skye," Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Flora MacDonald's Lament" (subject)
cf. "Twa Bonnie Maidens" (subject)
NOTES: It is ironic to note that, while this song had a certain vogue as an art piece, the only traditional collections seem to have been in North America.
Susan Maclean Kybett, in Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Biography of Charles Edward Stuart (Dodd, Mead, 1988), pp. 232-233, makes an interesting observation: Although the song says that Flora (MacDonald) will keep watch over Charlie during the passage: "It was actually the Prince who kept watch by Flora's weary head during their storm-tossed crossing of the sea of the Hebrides. Having been up the last two nights sewing, she fell asleep while Charles sang Jacobite songs, such as 'The Twenty-ninth of May' from the rising of 1715 and 'The King Shall Enjoy His Own Again....'" - RBW
File: Brew79

Slack Away Yer Reefy Tayckle


See Let Go the Reef Tackle (File: Doe165)

Slack Your Rope


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

Slago Town


See Sligo Town (File: CW145)

Slaney Side, The


See The Tan-Yard Side [Laws M28] (File: LM28)

Slapander-Gosheka


DESCRIPTION: "What would my mother say to me, if I should come home with Big Billy? Chorus: Slappoo, slapeter, slap-an-der-go-she-ka, slappoo! I'd tell her to go and hold her tongue, for she did the same when she was young." Other verses have similar rhymes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: shanty nonsense
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 98-99, "Slapander-Gosheka" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9168
File: Harl098

Slaughter of the Laird of Mellerstain, The [Child 230]


DESCRIPTION: Fragment: A fair lady is heard lamenting for her slain husband, "John Hately, the Laird of Mellerstain." She laments that her ladies were not men who could have stood by him as he was killed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828
KEYWORDS: death mourning murder
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 3, 1603 - Murder of "Johne Haitlie of Millstanes" by "William Home hes guidfather."
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 230, "The Slaughter of the Laird of Mellerstain" (1 text)
Roud #4020
File: C230

Slav Ho


See Saltpetre Shanty (Slav Ho) (File: Colc097)

Slavery Chain Done Broke at Last


DESCRIPTION: "Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last... Gonna praise God till I die." The former slave describes praying to God for relief from pain and oppression. God has answered with mighty armies; "He gave me liberty."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953
KEYWORDS: slave slavery freedom religious
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-CivWar, p. 41, "Slavery Chain Done Broke at Last" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 102, "Slavery Chain" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 299, "Slavery Chain Done Broke At Last" (1 text)
Roud #15257
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" (tune)
File: SCW41

Sledburn Fair


DESCRIPTION: "I'd oft heard tell of this Sledburn fair, And fain would I gan thither." The singer's parents let him go there with Nell. They arrive at Sledburn, find an alehouse, and settle down to enjoy a fine dinner.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (de la Mare)
KEYWORDS: horse travel
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #79, "Sledburn Fair" (1 text)
Roud #2543
NOTES: By his placement and notes, de la Mare seems to think this a honeymoon song, but there is little direct hint of this except that the boy and girl go out together for (at least) a day unhaperoned. - RBW
File: WdlM079

Sleeping Beauty (Thorn Rose, Briar Rose)


DESCRIPTION: Singing game. "Fair Rosa was a lovely child... Fair Rosa slept a hundred years... A forest grew around her tower... A wicked fairy found her there... A noble prince came riding by... And now she's happy as a bride."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: magic rescue marriage beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H599, p. 12, "Fair Rosa/The Sleeping Beauty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hammond-Belfast, p. 19, "Fair Rosa" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7889
NOTES: Very common as a folktale, of course, and quite old. In the Grimm collection, it is "Briar-Rose" ("Dornröschen," #50, 1812); Perrault also had a version. The oldest version known is in the Volsung saga; in section 20, Sigurd awakens Brynhild by slicing away her enchanted armor. - RBW
File: HHH599

Sleeping for the Flag


DESCRIPTION: "When the boys come home in triumph, brother, With the laurels they shall gain... We shall look for you in vain." The brave man lies dead "underneath the Southern tree." "Sleeping to waken in this weary world no more... Sleeping for the flag you bore."
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: Civilwar death burial soldier
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hill-CivWar, pp. 212-213, "Sleeping for the Flag" (1 text)
DT, SLEPFLAG*
File: HCW212

Sleepy Merchant, The


DESCRIPTION: The merchant comes calls for a bed and a girl. She gives him a sleeping drug. The next night, he pours out the drug and sleeps with her, but does not leave the gift he promised. Later, he arrives to find her pregnant and gives her his hand in marriage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The merchant comes to an inn and calls for a bed and a girl. She gives him a sleeping drug, and arises a maiden. The next night, he pours out the drug and sleeps with her, promising her a fine plaid. When he departs, she finds no plaid and curses him. Twenty weeks later, he arrives to find her pregnant. He gives her the plaid and his hand in marriage, and they live happily.
KEYWORDS: sex drugs drink pregnancy trick clothes reunion marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kinloch-BBook II, pp. 4-11, "The Sleepy Merchant" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1498, "The Sleepy Merchan'" (5 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #7164
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broomfield Hill" [Child 43] (plot)
cf. "Bonny Glasgow Green" (tune, per GreigDuncan7)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Pedlar's Wife
NOTES: Child mentions this song in his notes to "The Broomfield Hill," but writes it off as "a modern ballad" perhaps based on an Italian story.
I allow the possibility; "The Sleepy Merchant" seems a rather disjointed piece, with the first part being a tale of how the girl tricked the merchant into not sleeping with her (as in "The Broomfield Hill") and the second being your standard seduction-pregnancy-and-return sort of song, as in, e.g. "The Broom of Cowdenknows." But the piece feels more traditional than literary, so I've tentatively included it in the Index even though I've never seen its like. - RBW
GreigDuncan7 1498A provides motivation missing in Kinloch: "A wager wi' him she did lay ... That she wad sleep a nicht wi' him And rise a maid again." There is also a bet in Child 43B "that a maid sha nae go to yon bonny green wood And a maiden return again." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: KinBB02

Sleepytoon (I)


See Sleepytown (File: RcSlepTn)

Sleepytoon (II)


DESCRIPTION: "Cam all my lads that follow the ploo:" the singer tells about the job at Sleepytoon. The foreman wakes you at five for porridge. The farmer's "weel respected" but his wife is an ugly, scowling, "argefying bitch"
AUTHOR: probably Willie Clark (c.1854, according to Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 5" - 25.8.02)
EARLIEST DATE: 1974 (recording, John MacDonald)
KEYWORDS: farming food hardtimes nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
Roud #9140
RECORDINGS:
John MacDonald, "Sleepytoon" (on Voice05)
NOTES: Except for the title and general subject matter this seems to me to be entirely unlike "Sleepytown (I)."
The author, according to notes to Voice05, is George Morris. The Musical Traditions Notes attribution says that the song was "popularised on a 78 disc by the late George S Morris of Old Meldrum. (Reg Hall's comment that [George] Morris wrote the piece is incorrect)." My choice, with no information beyond what is in this note, is to follow Musical Traditions Notes. - BS
File: RcSlee2

Sleepytown (I)


DESCRIPTION: Singer, tired of his old job, hires out as a laborer to farmer Adam Mitchell, of Sleepytoon. The farmer's work (no more than ten hours a day, but with strict rules and fines) is described; with the season ended, singer and friends are off to celebrate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #102, p. 3, "Sleepy Town"; Greig #123, p. 2, "Sleepytoon"; Greig #127, pp. 2-3, "Sleepytoon"; Greig #133, pp. 2-3, "Sleepy Toon" (4 texts)
GreigDuncan3 356, "Sleepy Toon" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Ord, pp 225-226, "Sleepytown" (1 text)
ST RcSlepTn (Full)
Roud #3775
RECORDINGS:
J. C. Mearns and friends, "Sleepytoon" [2 verses missing] (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
NOTES: In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Scottish workers hired out as contract farm laborers, living in "bothies," barn dormitories. Many "bothy ballads" were composed there, including this one. - PJS
Paul compares this to a wide variety of lumbering songs, which have the same theme of working too hard and then partying the off-season away. The song type is hardly limited to lumbermen; there are, e.g., many Australian shearing songs of the same type. Compare also Scottish songs such as "The Barnyards o Delgaty." - RBW
Greig #124, p. 3: "...there is a good deal of material common to these ploughman ditties" ["Sleepytoon" and "Swaggers"].
GreigDuncan3: "The farm was officially named Christ's Kirk, with Sleepytoon appearing as the title after 1870. Adam Mitchell, named in the song, was farmer from the 1840s to 1858."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Sleepytoon (356) is at coordinate (h2-3,v6) on that map [roughly 25 miles WNW of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcSlepTn

Sliabh na mBan (Mountain of the Women)


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. It is untrue that we fled like cattle on Sliabh na mBan. Had we waited patiently we'd have had support. Few retreated but many died or were imprisoned. If it's true that the French are coming to help the Gael we'll repay the robber Saxon.
AUTHOR: George Sigerson (1836-1925) (translator) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1998 ("The Croppy's Complaint," Craft Recordings CRCD03 (1998); Terry Moylan notes)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage rebellion battle Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 23, 1798 - General Sir Charles Asgill disperses a body of United Irishmen assembled on Sliabh na mBan mountain in Tipperary (source: Moylan)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 103, "Sliabh na mBan" (1 Gaelic text, 1 tune); 104, "Sliabh na mBan" (1 English text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Slievenamon" (subject)
NOTES: The description is from the translation by George Sigerson as Moylan 104, "Sliabh na mBan."
Zimmermann p. 207: "The original 'Sliabh na mBan' is one of the few traditional songs in Irish inspired by the rising of 1798."
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Aine Ui Cheallaigh, "Sliabh na mBan" (on "The Croppy's Complaint," Craft Recordings CRCD03 (1998); Terry Moylan notes) - BS
This event is obscure enough that I couldn't find mention of it in any of the Irish histories I checked. It was just one of those skirmishes that took place after the 1798 rising had largely collapsed. The one thing that's certain is that the brutal Asgill would not have stopped while there was a live enemy left to kill. - RBW
File: Moyl103

Slieve Gallen Brae


DESCRIPTION: The singer urges the visitor from the city to view Slive Gallen Brae: the old dolmen, the chieftain's graves, the singing linnets, the flowers, the home of Rory Dall, the grave of Cooey-na-gall. He says that bards come from far away to find inspiration
AUTHOR: James O'Kane?
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: nonballad home music
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H784, pp. 172-173, "Slieve Gallen Brae" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1420
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of the Roe" (for Cooey-na-Gal) and references there
NOTES: Not to be confused with the emigration song, "[Farewell unto] [Bonnie] Slieve Gallen Braes."
For "Cooey-na-Gal" O'Cahan and Dungiven Priory, see the notes on "The Banks of the Roe." "Rory Dall" is of course the famous blind harper of the O'Cahans. - RBW
File: HHH784

Slieve Gallen Braes


DESCRIPTION: The singer walks out to view the beauties of Slieve Gallen Braes. He recalls walking and hunting in the past near his small farm. "But the rents were getting higher and I could no longer stay So farewell unto you bonny, bonny Slieve Gallen Braes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Carl Hardebeck in _Gems of Melody: Seoda Ceoil,_ according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: Ireland home exile hardtimes poverty emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
OLochlainn-More 9, "Sliav Gallion Braes" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SLIEVGAL*
ADDITIONAL: Bell/O Conchubhair, Traditional Songs of the North of Ireland, pp. 36-37, "Sliabh Gallen's Brae" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1420
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Exiled Irishman's Lament (The Exiles of Erin)" (theme)
File: DTslievg

Slieve Na Mon


DESCRIPTION: Tithes and taxes: "No more they're legal on Slieve na Mon." At Carrickshock we left "the rabble ... in death's cold agony." The accused are freed "by the means of our noble Dan." Soon "tithes no more will oppress the land" "We'll banish Brinswickers"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1832 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: violence trial death farming Ireland political police
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 14, 1831 - Carrickshock, County Kilkenny: Peasants attack tithe process servers, killing at least 13 (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 42, "Slieve Na Mon" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(81), "Slieve Na Mon" ("You banished sons of this injured nation"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War and the Carrickshock Riot)
cf. "Sliabh na mBan" (tune)
NOTES: The context is "The Tithe War": O'Connell's Catholic Association was formed in 1823 to resist the requirement that Irish Catholics pay tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland. The "war" was passive for most of the period 1823-1836, though there were violent incidents in 1831 (source: The Irish Tithe War 1831 at the OnWar.com site)
Zimmermann p. 18: "In the early 1830's a veritable state of insurrection prevailed in Leinster and Munster, when the military and the police were called in to assist in collecting the tithes or seizing and auctioning the cattle or crops of those who refused to pay."
Zimmermann's description of the "Battle of Carrickshock": "a proctor tried to serve tithe processes at Carrickshock, County Kilkenny; he was accompanied by a police force of thirty-seven men. A party of peasants armed with scythes, spades and pitchforks attacked them. The proctor and at least twelve policemen were killed. The peasants charge with murder were skilfully defended by O'Connell, and the trial was abandoned."
The broadside description of the battle is graphic: "Who could desire to see better sport, To see them groping among the loughs, Their sculls all fractured, their eye-balls broken, Their great long noses and ears cut off."
Zimmermann states that a version was noted "from oral tradition c. 1900." - BS
For the overall history of the Tithe War, as well as more information on this song, see the notes to "The Battle of Carrickshock." The name "Brinswickers," i.e. "Brunswickers," was used as a generic term in Ireland for non-Catholics -- even though, ironically, the Germans were Lutherans, while the English were Anglican and the Ulster immigrants were Presbyterian (Reformed); neither of the latter two sects are, technically, Protestant. (A distintiction, I concede, of greater significance to non-Catholics than Catholics.)
There was a song by Charles Kickham called "Slievenamon"; I assume it was inspired by this. - RBW.
File: Zimm042

Slievenamon


DESCRIPTION: "Two thousand men for Ireland, on splendid Slievenamon." They are a sign to every village and to Irish in America and "every clime." They put to shame "the blushless recreant." Push on "till every mountain in the land be manned like Slievenamon!"
AUTHOR: Dr. Campion (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion battle Ireland nonballad patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 23, 1798 - General Sir Charles Asgill attacks and disperses United Irishmen on Sliabh na mBan Mountain, Tipperary (source: Moylan)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 105, "Slievenamon" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sliabh na mBan" (subject)
NOTES: This event is obscure enough that I couldn't find mention of it in any of the Irish histories I checked. It was just one of those skirmishes that took place after the 1798 rising had largely collapsed. The one thing that's certain is that the brutal Asgill would not have stopped while there was a live enemy left to kill. - RBW
File: Moyl105

Slighted Girl, The


See Lonesome Dove (File: Br3262)

Slighted Soldier, The


See King David had a Pleasant Dream [Laws O16] (File: LO16)

Slighted Suitor, The


DESCRIPTION: A rich merchant's daughter has many suitors; she rejects them. One wins her heart, but she says, "I have no desire a single life to part." He courts another. She begs him to change his mind. He rejects her in turn. (She warns against doing as she did)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection abandonment
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H159a/b, pp. 396-397, "The Slighted Suitor" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
OLochlainn-More 34, "The Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4715
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rejected Lover" [Laws P10] and references there
NOTES: The notes in Henry/Huntington/Herrmann speculate that this might be a version of "The Rejected Lover" (Laws P10). The plots are indeed the same. But I see no points of contact in the lyrics; I think they are separate songs. - RBW
File: HHH159

Slighted Sweetheart, The


See Farewell, Sweetheart (The Parting Lovers, The Slighted Sweetheart) (File: R756)

Sligo Shore


See Susan Strayed on the Briny Beach [Laws K19] (File: LK19)

Sligo Town


DESCRIPTION: "O once I knew a pretty little girl When pretty little girls were but few; Ofttimes I've rolled her in my arms All over the fog and dew." After all this courting/rolling, he writes to ask if she will marry him. He wishes he were in Sligo with a girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: courting love separation sex
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 180, p. 145, "Slago Town" (1 text)
Roud #558
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo)" [Laws O3] (theme, floating lyrics)
NOTES: This piece is obviously derived from "The Foggy Dew," but it has picked up enough twists of its own that it deserves to be classified separately (though Roud, of course, lumps them). - RBW
File: CW145

Sling the Flowing Bowl


DESCRIPTION: "Come come my jolly lads the wind's abaft, Brisk gales our sails shall crowd...." "Then sling the flowing bowl. Fond hopes arise the girls we prize Shall bless each jovial soul." The sailors boast of their prowess while on patrol
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1839 (Journal from the Chile)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 51-52, "Sling the Flowing Bowl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2015
NOTES: Huntington's versions are from American whalers, but it is clear that this song was originally sung by British sailors, probably from naval vessels, as it refers to patrolling the coast of Spain. - RBW
File: SWMS051

Slippery Stane, The


See The Slippy Stane (File: GrD3666)

Slippy Stane, The


DESCRIPTION: "There's aye a muckle slippery stane at ilka body's door." If your neighbor slips "lend a hand to lift him up"; you may find yourself in his condition some day. "Kings and emperors hae fallen"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: virtue nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig 111, p. 2, "The Slippy Stane"; Greig 121, p. 2, "The Slippy Stane" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan3 666, "The Slippy Stane" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6092
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(125, "The Slippy Stane" ("Wade canny through this weary world"), Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laddie Wi' the Tarry Trews" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Slippery Stane
NOTES: Greig has Hamilton Nimmo (1836-1892) as the author. On the other hand, GreigDuncan3 cites National Choir 1.339: "The song is said there to be by James Hendrie and to have been first published in The People's Friend in 1875." - BS
In either case, it sounds to me as if it might have been inspired by a meditation on Ecclesiastes 11:1-6, with perhaps a little of Luke 14:7-14 thrown in. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3666

Sloan Wellesley


See The Drowning of Young Robinson (File: HHH585)

Slob Song, The


DESCRIPTION: The ship is loaded and heads to Forteau. It is caught in slob ice at Launce Amour cove. A rescue boat fastens a line from shore to the ship. While four men and three women hold the line the crew pull the ship to shore. Crew and cargo are safely landed.
AUTHOR: Leo O'Brien
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: rescue sea ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 73, "The Slob Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab073 (Partial)
Roud #9981
NOTES: Forteau Bay and L'Anse Amour are on the lower Labrador coast on the Strait of Belle Isle. - BS
File: LLab073
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