Sloop John B, The


See The John B. Sails (File: San022)

Slow Men of London


DESCRIPTION: "There were three lads in our town, Slow men of London!" The three court a widow, and "left her undone." "They went to work without their tools." "They often tasted the widow's cheer." Eventually she sends them away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1840 (Buchan, Secret Songs of Silence)
KEYWORDS: sex separation
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Hanish Henderson, "The Ballad, The Folk and The Oral Tradition," in Edward J. Cowan, editor, _The People's Past: Scottish Folk, Scottish History_ 1980 (I use the 1993 Polygon paperback edition), p. 78, "The Wanton Trooper" (1 text)
Roud #12564
File: SloMnLon

Slower that the Fire Burns the Sweeter is the Maut, The


See The Deluded Lover (File: K150)

Sly Wife, The


See The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie [Child 290] (File: C290)

Smart Schoolboy, The


See The Fause Knight Upon the Road [Child 3] (File: C003)

Smashing of the Van (I), The


DESCRIPTION: Two Fenian leaders, Kelly and Deasy, have been imprisoned; a party of Fenians led Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien, stop and break into the prison van and free them. But the rescuers kill a man, and in the end are executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: prison Ireland rebellion execution death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 11, 1867 - Kelly and Deasy are arrested and rescued a week later by 30 Fenians
Nov 24, 1867 - Three of the ambushers are hanged (source: _The Manchester Martyrs_ on the Gorton Local History Group site)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
PGalvin, pp. 50-51, "The Smashing of the Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 14, "The Manchester Martyrs" or "The Smashing of the Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmermann 72, "The Smashing of the Van" or "The Three Manchester Martyrs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3028
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Allen, Larkin and O'Brien" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
cf. "God Save Ireland" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
cf. "The Manchester Martyrs (I)" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
NOTES: Ben Schwartz tells me that this is sung to the tune of "The River Roe," but I'm not sure which song of that name is meant.
The Fenians were a group of Irishmen (many of them living in America) whose purpose was to liberate Ireland. Whatever one thinks of their goal, their history was almost comic; they kept trying goofy ideas and nothing ever worked.
This incident is typical: in 1867, the Fenians were talking rebellion, though leader James Stephens (for whom see "James Stephens, the Gallant Fenian Boy") was trying to call things off. But the British continued to arrest potential rebels.
On September 11, two men were captured in Manchester and charged with loitering. An informer pointed out that they were Thomas J. Kelly, who had been proclaimed chief executive of the Fenian's Irish Republic (Kee, pp. 31, 33), and one Captain Timothy Deas(e)y (Kee, p. 45).
Kelly and Deasy probably were not in danger of losing their lives, but they were "rescued" anyway on September 18 by a crew of about thirty Fenians (Fry/Fry, p. 243). It wasn't that hard; the police wagon was unescorted. It was, after all, in England, not Ireland.
In the course of the "rescue," a police sergeant, Charles Brett, was killed. Kee reports that one Peter Rice (who later escaped, with Kelly and Deasy, to America) fired the fatal shot. Few other sources definitively list a name, but he is obviously the prime suspect.
The British, in their usual inept way in in such matters, hauled in a large crowd of Irish folk found near Manchester. Five men were put on trial for killing Brett. Rice was not among them. One of the five, Maguire, had no involvement in the rescue at all and was later given full pardon.
The other four prisoners, William Allen, Edward Condon, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien, had taken part in the attack but almost certainly had not fired the fatal shot. Nonetheless they were convicted of the murder (officially Allen was regarded as the one who had done the shooting). Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien were executed on November 24 (so Kee, p. 47; and Golway, p. 147; the article The Manchester Martyrs on the Gorton Local History Group site says November 23).
The three men came to be known as the "Manchester Martyrs."
A rescue attempt failed, but was bloodier than the first try: This time, the Fenians managed to kill a dozen bystanders.
Even though the blood had been shed by the Irish, and the British had followed the law throughout (under both British and American law, one engaged in a felony in which a murder is committed is guilty of the murder even if one is not a murderer), both sides blamed the other, increasing Anglo-Irish tensions. The incident also increased rebel recruiting. Indeed, according to OxfordCompanion, p. 343, says that it "prompted a partial reconciliation between the Catholic church and Fenianism."
The description of the van being "smashed" is literally accurate: The van was locked, and Brett had the keys, so the Irish pounded on it with rocks to get it open. This failed, and Brett refused to yield, and so the fatal shot was fired. It is not known whether the bullet was aimed at Brett, or at the van's lock, or merely intended to intimidate; in any case, it proved fatal.
The trial of the martyrs also gave the Irish a memorable phrase: Edward Condon (the one raider who was condemned but *not* hung, because he was an American citizen) shouted out "God save Ireland!" during the proceedings, and it inspired the song of that name.
The British, having watched all these acts, plus another bungled rescue of a prisoner (Richard O'Sullivan Burke, for whom see the notes on "Burke's Dream" [Laws J16]) which led to the death of twelve English citizens and the maiming of dozens more (Kee, pp. 49-51; Fry/Fry, p. 244), were hardly in a mood for pity. But the Gladstone government, which came to power in 1868, released most Irish political prisoners in 1871.
For other examples of Fenian bungling, see the notes to "A Fenian Song (I)" and "The British Man-of-War." For their one big splashy success, see "The Fenian's Escape (The Catalpa)."
- RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: PGa050

Smashing of the Van (II), The


DESCRIPTION: Ten Sinn Fein men smash a prison van on Glasgow's High Street to free a prisoner. The police arrest the Sinn Fein men and Father McRory "a mere clergyman." Counsellors McKane and Sandymen defend the accused and the verdict is "Not Guilty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: violence crime trial clergy police IRA
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 4, 1921 - Attempted rescue of Frank Carty from a police van in Glasgow (source: Coogan)
FOUND IN: ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 65, "The Smashing of the Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3028
NOTES: The song is about a failed rescue attempt of IRA commander Frank Carty while he was being transported in a police van to Duke Street prison. Inspector Johnson was killed. Father McRory, among others, was charged but all the accused were acquitted. "The trial, and in particular Father McRory's arrest, fanned sectarian tensions to white heat. However, the Anglo-Irish Truce of July 1921 helped to defuse the situation." (source: Tim Pat Coogan, Wherever Green is Worn (2001, New York), p. 243).
McBride: "Fr. McRory, mentioned in this song was from the 'Parish', the rural area that lies north of Bunrana Town, hence the popularity of this short song in Inishowen."
McBride's text begins "It was on the twenty fourth of May nineteen and twenty one"; The Times of London supports Coogan's date of May 4, 1921 (source:"Irish Outrage in Glasgow Police Inspector Murdered”, The Times, May 5, 1921, p. 7, Issue 42712, column D, Copyright 1921 The Times, Article CS119083173, Copyright 2002 The Gale Group). - BS
The index to Younger reveals that there were two Frank Cartys of interest during this period, one from Sligo, one from Wexford. Frank Carty of Wexford was an IRA brigade adjutant (Younger, p. 343), but it is Carty of Sligo who is meant here. Interestingly, Younger has far more references to Cary of Wexford than Carty of Sligo,mentioning this rescue only in passing. And most of the other histories I checked don't mention Carty at all.
I would not hasten to accept that Father McRory was a "mere" clergyman. I assume this is Joseph MacRory (1861-1945), archishop of Armagh from 1928 and cardinal from 1929 (OxfordCompanion, p. 339); he is said to have been "reluctant to condemn IRA activities." And he later inflamed the troubles with a statement that Protestant churche were not part of the true church of Christ (Murphy, p. 159). - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: McB1065

Smeara, Na (The Blackberries)


DESCRIPTION: Singer, "with a wish for every woman": loved "a dark-eyed damsel" while "herding horny cows"; was engaged to Peg O'Doherty who "vanished with a vagabond"; hit on a widow who "nearly scalded me." He loves a girl among the blackberries at harvest time.
AUTHOR: J.P. Craig [in Gaelic] (source: Tunney-SongsThunder)
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Tunney-SongsThunder)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction sex humorous nonballad rake harvest food
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 9-11, "The Blackberries" (1 text)
File: TST009

Smiggy Maglooral


DESCRIPTION: Smiggey marries a maid (or fights in Bull Run). The maid winds the clock and milks the cow "from the chimney top." She has a cramp (or gets the croup) and "they brought her to with some turtle soup." She meets Mose, they come to blows and home she goes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (GreigDuncan7); before 1865 (broadside, Bodleian LOCSinging as203350)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonsense disease injury animal food fight
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1290, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Thrifty Wife" (3 texts, 4 tunes)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 71, "I Have a Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 143, "Smiggy Maglooral" (1 text)
ST OCon143 (Partial)
Roud #7193
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(711), "Smiggey McGuirrel", H. De Marsan (New York) , 1861-1864 [same as LOCSinging as203350]
LOCSinging, as203350, "Smiggey McGuirrel", H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864 [same as Bodleian Harding B 18(711)]
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Wee Wifie
NOTES: GreigDuncan7: "Sung by John Allan, Caysmill, 1849."
Broadside LOCSinging as203350 and Bodleian Harding B 18(711): H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OCon143

Smiling Potatoes, The


DESCRIPTION: "Sweet roots of Erin! we can't do without them; No tongue can express their importance to man ... Then here's to the brave boys that plant them and raise them."
AUTHOR: Rev. John Graham (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1829 (Graham, _Poems, Chiefly Historical_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: farming food Ireland nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 61-65, "The Smiling Potatoes" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dear Creatures, We Can't Do Without Them" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
cf. "The Potato" (subject)
NOTES: The potato was, of course, both blessing and curse to Ireland. Blessing, because it could help replenish the soil depleted by growing cereal grains, and blessing, because by the 1840s, it was nearly the sole source of nutrition for three million of Ireland's eight million people. And curse, because -- by the 1840s, it was nearly the sole source of nutrition for three million of Ireland's eight million people.
For another song in praise of the crop, see "The Potato." For a (quite inadequate) description of the horrors caused by the potato blight, see "Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small)."
File: CPS061

Smith at Waterloo


See The Plains of Waterloo (I) [Laws N32] (File: LN32)

Smith's a Gallant Fireman, The


DESCRIPTION: "Rab, the village smith .... He's knicht o' war an' lord o' love an' king o' a the shire man At feast or fray, by nicht or day the smith's a gallant fireman." He is praised for honour, heart, strength, courage and generosity.
AUTHOR: John Harrison (1814-1889) (source: Greig)
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Greig)
KEYWORDS: virtue nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #73, p. 2, "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 461, "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #5899
NOTES: Greig: The song was written in 1862. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3461

Smithfield Mountain


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

Smokey Mountain Bill


DESCRIPTION: "Smokey Mountain Bill... drunk a lot of gin -- That's what caused him all the trouble he got in." Bill, a moonshiner, shoots a revenuer. Imprisoned by the sheriff, he escapes to the mountains, where he and his still live a happy life
AUTHOR: Carson Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Frank Luther & Carson Robison)
KEYWORDS: death drink humorous
FOUND IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 102-104, "Smokey Mountain Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ102 (Partial)
Roud #4544
RECORDINGS:
Frank Luther & Carson Robison, "Smoky Mountain Bill" (Brunswick 412, 1930)
File: FJ102

Smoothing Iron, The


See Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron (File: ShH82)

Smuggler's Song (II), The


DESCRIPTION: "When the blink o' the day is fading fast... O, that is the hour for to flash the oar." The singer talks of the troubles at sea, sneers at the German royalty, then waxes at length about the joys when they come back to shore.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord); reportedly published 1844
KEYWORDS: ship sea home
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, p. 386, "Smuggler's Song" (1 text)
Roud #3795
NOTES: It's hard to determine what this is about. Although the title refers to smuggling, the song itself has no such references. We have only two facts: Ord reports that the song was published in 1844 in the Ayrshire Wreath, and then there is the reference to "the German" (it doesn't say King, or Kaiser, but said German lives in a palace).
My best guess, on that basis, is that the song refers to Napoleon's blockade of Great Britain -- the "Continental System," proclaimed in Berlin on November 21, 1806, in which the German states were reluctantly included. For details on this, see "The Ports are Open." - RBW
File: Ord386

Smuggler's Song (Watch the Wall While the Gentlemen Go By)


DESCRIPTION: "If you wake at midnight, and hear a horses's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind or looking in the street..." The child is assured that all is well, and told not to repeat what she hears. If she keeps quiet, she may be rewarded and will hear no lies
AUTHOR: Words: Rudyard Kipling?
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Puck of Pook's Hill)
KEYWORDS: nonballad horse animal police
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry (introduction to) H494, p. 127, "Hugh Hill, the Ramoan Smuggler" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: There is something peculiar going on here. On its face, this was published by Rudyard Kipling as "Smuggler's Song" in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906). It occurs at the end of the chapter "Hal o' the Daft" (which, curiously, is tied up with Sir Andrew Barton). The text from Puck was set to music by Peter Bellamy, and has been recorded, e.g., by John Roberts and Tony Barrand.
But Lani Herrmann reports that Isla Cameron also recorded the song -- presumably well before Bellamy set a tune. Sam Henry, in 1933, quoted the first stanza without attribution, as if it were a folk song. Could Kipling have taken a traditional scrap and turned it into a full poem? If ever he did such a thing, the most likely place for him to publish it would have been in Puck.
Internal evidence of the poem isn't much help. There is a reference to "King George's Men," but of course one George or another was on the English throne from 1714 to 1830.
It does remind me a bit of the situation in Ireland in the eighteenth century, as groups such as the Whiteboys tried to control oppression by the landlords. Robert Kee, on p. 26 of The Most Distressful Country (being Volume I of The Green Flag), write that "At times these secret societies held certain areas of Ireland largely at their mercy. The warning to children: 'The fairies will get you' once had sinister undertones.'" - RBW
File: HHH494n

Smugglers of Buffalo, The


DESCRIPTION: "It was on the sixth of April as I lay on my bed, A-thinking of the sorrows that crowned my aching head," that the singer, a smuggler, was taken into custody. He will go home to his girl in Sandusky when released, and hopes she never learns what happened
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (collected from John W. Green by Walton)
KEYWORDS: crime sailor prison freedom
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 116-117, "The Smugglers of Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
J. W. Green, "Smugglers of Buffalo" (Library of Congress LOC 2296 B2, 1938; on WaltonSailors; the words differ slightly from the lyrics in Walton/Grimm/Murdock although they come from the same recording)
File: WGM116

Snagtooth Sal


DESCRIPTION: The singer happily remembers "Walking down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal." "But she turned me down completely" -- by dying (!). He will die for love, and gives instructions for his own burial
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: cowboy love death separation burial
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 106, "Snagtooth Sal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 405-406, "Snagtooth Sal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11096
NOTES: The Fifes regard this as traditional -- but it is noteworthy that they had to get their tune from the Roger Wagner Chorale! To me, it looks like a cowboy adaption of something along the lines of "The Butcher Boy" or "The Pinery Boy." - RBW
File: FCW106

Snake Baked a Hoecake


DESCRIPTION: "Snake baked a hoecake, left the (frog) to mind it. Frog he went a-nodding, lizard came and stole it. 'Bring back my hoecake, you long-tailed ninny!'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Brown; reportedly found in Washington Irving's notebooks in 1817)
KEYWORDS: animal theft thief food
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 185, "Snake Baked a Hoecake" (3 short texts)
SharpAp 238, "Snake Baked a Hoe-cake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3622
File: Br3185

Snake in the Grass


DESCRIPTION: A young man vigorously courts the singer, then asks how much money her father has promised as a dowry. When she answers "None," he vanishes. She warns, "But well a day, alas, alas, 'Mong roses sometimes there's a snake in the grass."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting abandonment dowry money
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 819, "Snake in the Grass" (1 text)
Roud #7434
File: R819

Snake River Massacre, The


DESCRIPTION: "A cruel massacre took place Of late upon the plains; 'Tis hard to describe the place -- It was upon Ward's train." A small band is attacked by Indians, and overwhelmed; two boys escape, but the rest -- men and women -- are slaughtered
AUTHOR: Nicholas Lee?
EARLIEST DATE: 1854 (Salem, Oregon Statesman)
KEYWORDS: murder battle Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 20, 1854 - Alexander Ward's party of 21 is assailed and slaughtered. The only survivors are the boys Newton and William Ward
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, p. 138-139, "(The Snake River Massacre)" (1 text)
File: Burt138

Snakes


DESCRIPTION: "Reginald Alfonsus Bungy had a scientific mind, From his earliest childhood was he taxidermically inclined." In his field expeditions he encounters a drunken rambler who advises him to go to the nearest pub, where he has seen many (illusionary) snakes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: drink humorous animal recitation
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 232-234, "Snakes" (1 text)
File: MA232

Snap Poo


See Snapoo (File: EM379)

Snapoo


DESCRIPTION: Three German (air) officers ask the landlady if she has a daughter who will sleep with them. The mother says her daughter is much too fine; the girl protests she is not.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Colcord)
KEYWORDS: bawdy landlord sex mother soldier
FOUND IN: Australia Canada US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray, pp. 379-384, "Snapoo" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 308-311, "Snapoo" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Colcord, pp. 110-111, "Mademoiselle from Armetieres" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 73-74, "Snap Poo" (1 text)
Roud #4703
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (tune) and references there
cf. "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (approximate tune; theme)
cf. "Brave Marin (Brave Sailor)" (approximate tune)
cf. "Little Red Train"
cf. "Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds)" [Laws K36] (plot)
NOTES: For the relationship of this item to "Mademoiselle from Armentieres," see the notes to that song. - RBW
File: EM379

Snow Covered Face, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer, riding in the mountains, finds the body of a cowboy frozen in the snow. He finds a letter, bidding farewell to his mother and asking the finder to take it to her. Singer hopes the cowboy may have found heaven "for his work is all done here below"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter)
KEYWORDS: corpse death dying mother cowboy
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter, "The Snow Covered Face" (on Conqueror 7756, 1931; on WhenIWas2)
File: RcTSVF

Snow Dove


See The Butcher Boy [Laws P24] (File: LP24)

Snow Gull


DESCRIPTION: Scots Gaelic. The singer (a girl who has lost her love?) asks the gull where her love sleeps. She describes the dead all together in the land under the waves.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Kennedy-Fraser)
KEYWORDS: death separation bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Hebr))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kennedy-Fraser I, pp. 84-87, "The Seagull of the Land-Under-Waves" (2 texts with literal and loose English translations, 1 tune)
NOTES: This is one of those thoroughly dubious pieces. Reading the notes in Kennedy-Fraser, it's not clear that this song ever existed in Gaelic as it stands. And it did not exist in English until she published it. And yet, Gordon Bok sings an English version so different from the Kennedy-Fraser text that oral tradition (if only in Bok's family) seems to have taken over the translated text.
When in doubt, even extreme doubt, we index -- so here the song is. - RBW
File: KFrI084

Snow Is on the Ground, The


See Remember the Poor (File: Wa161)

Snow It Melts the Soonest, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh the snow it melts the soonest when the winds begin to sing... And when a woman tells me that my face she'll soon forget, Before we part, I wad a croon, she's fain to follow't yet." The singer declares analogies to why parting need not be forever
AUTHOR: Words probably by Thomas Doubleday
EARLIEST DATE: 1821 (Blackwood's Magazine)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 120-121, "The Snow It Melts the Soonest" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR120 (Full)
Roud #3154
File: StoR120

Snuffer's Grace


DESCRIPTION: "Here's my mull and tak' a sneeshin, Dodsake gie yer nose a creeshin; Ye're welcome sid ye snuff a groat, Yestreen I snuffed a pun and mair o't The feint a grain o't made me sneeze In fact it isna worth the cairryin', If it warna jist to scare flees."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drugs nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 567, "Snuffer's Grace" (1 short text)
Roud #6038
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 entry. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3567

Snuffer's Toast, The


DESCRIPTION: "Here's to the nose, and up it goes, And all that it contains, It clears the eyes and clogs the nose, And clarifies the brain; And it makes the lugs to crack; And oh it is a capital thing For ony man to tak'. Amen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: drugs nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 566, "The Snuffer's Toast" (1 fragment)
Roud #6037
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 entry. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3566

So Dear Is My Charlie to Me (Prince Charlie)


DESCRIPTION: The lady bids her listeners to lament for her, "for so dear is my Charlie to me." She tells how she turned down many nobles because of her love for Charlie. She admits that he is Catholic and she Presbyterian, but she will accept Rome for Charlie
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1890 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.11(146))
KEYWORDS: love courting separation Jacobites
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. Charlie spends months fleeing the English. One of those who helps him escape is Flora MacDonald
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H533, p. 292, "So Dear Is My Charlie to Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 162-163, "Prince Charlie Stuart" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3099
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "Prince Charlie Stuart" (on IRPTunney01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.11(146)[useless for determining text, but see NOTES], "Charlie Stuart" ("Come join in lamentation queens and princesses"), R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 1849-1889; also Harding B 15(40b), 2806 c.14(129)[beginning and ending verses illegible], "Charlie Stuart"; Firth b.26(4) [end missing], "Flora Macdonald's Lament for her Charlie" ("Come join in lamentation you queens and you princes")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. ""Flora's Lament for Her Charlie" (subject)
cf. "Flora MacDonald's Lament" (subject)
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(146), "Charlie Stuart" ("Come join in lamentation queens and princesses"), R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 1849-1889 large image could not be downloaded but the small image could be magnified enough to verify that the broadside is for this ballad.
As for the Flora Macdonald text of Bodleian Firth b.26(4) there is no question but that this particular text is an example of "So Dear Is My Charlie to Me."
This is not the same song as either Hogg 92, Jacobite Relics of Scotland, "The Lament of Flora Macdonald" or "Flora's Lament for Her Charlie."
SHenry H533, p. 292, Tunney-StoneFiddle pp. 162-163, and the Bodleian broadsides listed are all clearly the same ballad and seem likely to have all sprung from the same broadside.
As for Flora MacDonald, here is part of the commentary to broadside NLScotland RB.m.168(178): "Flora MacDonald, born on South Uist in 1722, is now the most famous heroine of the Jacobite cause and one of its most romantic stories. Bonnie Prince Charlie was fleeing Scotland after his Culloden defeat. When the situation became perilous on the Isle of Skye, Flora was persuaded to participate in her foster-father, Clanranald's, plan to help Charles' escape." - BS
The text of this song in Sam Henry looks troubled; the first verse doesn't fit particularly well with the last two. And there are so many songs on this theme that it's hard to tell which are the same and which distinct.
Some equate this with the various "Flora MacDonald's Laments." This has problems both textual and historical. There is no indication, in the Henry text, that the singer is Flora MacDonald; it's just some woman of the many who desired the handsome "Young Pretender."
Historically, I know of no indication that Charlie had any sort of actual relationship with Flora MacDonald. His only real liaison, during the period of the Forty-Five, was with Clementina Walkinshaw, who would become the mother of his only child. It appears that he was faithful to her during this period.
For background on Flora MacDonald, see in particular "Flora MacDonald's Lament." For the broader context, see "Culloden Moor." - RBW
File: HHH533

So Early in a Summer Morning


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a shepherd's daughter herding her flock. She refuses his advances because he appears rich; she would prefer a "poor shepherd laddie." He says (to us) that she's "the bonniest lassie that ever I saw"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection money farming beauty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 963, "So Early in a Summer Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6769
File: GrD5963

So Early in the Morning


See Sailor Likes His Bottle-O, The (File: Hugi055)

So Handy


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Handy, me boys, so handy!" The song tells of how the good crew came together: "You've got your advance and to sea you must go, Handy... Around Cape Horn through frost and snow, Handy..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869
KEYWORDS: shanty ship
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Doerflinger, p. 12, "So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 76, "So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 142-143, "So Handy, My Boys, So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 479-484, "Handy, Me Boys," "Hand O'er Hand" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 357-361]
Sharp-EFC, XLII, p. 48, "So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doe012 (Partial)
Roud #814
RECORDINGS:
Richard Maitland, "So Handy, Me Boys, So Handy" (AFS, 1939; on LC27)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Handy, Me Girls
File: Doe012

So Handy, My Boys, So Handy


See So Handy (File: Doe012)

So Heave Away


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "The Gustav's loaded down with grain. So heave away! heave away!" (x2). "The Gustav is a fine big ship, we're bound away on a damn long trip." More verses about drink and other unprintable topics.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty drink ship
FOUND IN: Germany Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 319-320, "So Heave Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shine the Light" (Salvation Army hymn) (tune)
NOTES: According to Hugill, the crew of a German barque Sterna took a Salvation Army hymn "Shine the Light" and altered the words to use as a shanty. Hugill and his crew, on board the Gustav further altered the song into this form. - SL
File: Hugi319A

So It's Pass


DESCRIPTION: "So, it's pass around the grog, my boys." Give me the girl I love, toast Queen Victoria, and "when our money is all gone We'll go to sea for more." Chorus: "Here's to him that merry be ... March onward, my brave boys"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: sex drink nonballad shanty sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1837-1901 - Reign of Queen Victoria
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton-NovaScotia 56, "Chanty Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CAPEVIEW
ST CrNS056 (Partial)
Roud #1798
ALTERNATE TITLES:
See, See, The Cape's In View
NOTES: Creighton-NovaScotia has this as a chanty but says "it looks more like a sailor's adaptation of a soldier's song." - BS
File: CrNS056

So Like Your Song and You


DESCRIPTION: "I wandered in the radiant dawn O'er glistening fields of dew, And listening to the lark's sweet song, I thought, my love, of you." No matter what the singer does or wherever (he) goes, it reminds (him) of (the girl's) song
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Doey
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love music nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H508, pp. 226-227, "So Like Your Song and You" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7976
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Singing Bird" (tune)
File: HHH508

So Long, It's Been Good to Know You


See So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh (File: Arn165)

So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh


DESCRIPTION: "I've sung this song, but I'll sing it again." The singer tells of the difficulties of life (in the dust bowl). At last he prepares to depart: "So long, it's been good to know you (x3)... And I've got to be drifting along."
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes home rambling clergy dustbowl
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Arnett, pp. 164-165, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 92, "So Long, It's Been Good To Know You" (1 text [dustbowl version], 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 205-206, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You" (1 text [dustbowl version], 1 tune)
DT, SOLONGIT
Roud #15161
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh" (on PeteSeeger17) (on PeteSeeger41) (on PeteSeeger27); "So Long" (on PeteSeeger23)
NOTES: There are actually two versions of this, Woody's original dustbowl text and the popularized Weavers version. Since Woody wrote both, however, I think we can list them under one entry. - RBW
Make that three versions. Woody also wrote one (recorded in 1944) with lyrics pertaining to World War II. - PJS
Incidentally, if it be questioned whether this is a folk song, I think it is, at least in Minnesota, where they used it as a theme for a popular children's television show. My generation learned it by non-folk means, but it's started to pass on to younger generations.
It appears that Guthrie's original version of this is based largely on actual events of the so-called 'Black Easter" of 1935. For details of this storm and how it affected Guthrie and others near him, see Ed Cray's Ramblin' Man, p. 69fff. - RBW
File: Arn165

So Now We've Gained the Victory


DESCRIPTION: "So now we've gained our victory ... the bantam cock shall never crow on the plains of Waterloo." We'll send him to a far off island and not let him return again. A health to King George and Wellington. Boney will always remember Waterloo.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Freddie James, RQMS Williams, G.W. Greening and Harry Hawkins?)
KEYWORDS: war exile nonballad patriotic Napoleon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
Roud #12928
RECORDINGS:
Freddie James, RQMS Williams, G.W. Greening and Harry Hawkins?, "So Now We've Gained the Victory" (on Voice16)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" (tune, according to Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 16" - 13.9.02:)
NOTES: For details on the Battle of Waterloo, see e.g. the notes to "The Plains of Waterloo (II)" [Laws J3]. It's a bit funny to see King George toasted. Forget the fact that his personal rule cost England the American colonies and a bunch of wars. By the time of Waterloo, he was incurably insane, and his son George IV was regent. - RBW
File: RcSNWGTV

So Selfish Runs the Hare (Horn, Boys, Horn)


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, so selfish runs the hare, and so cunning runs the fox, Who would think this little calf would grow to a noble ox? To live among the briars, and run among the thorns, And die the death his father did with a large pair of horns? Horns, boys, horns...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: animal hunting drink
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 38, #2 (1993), pp. 60-61, "So Selfish Runs the Hare" (1 text plus many additional stanzas, 1 tune; the source is not clearly stated)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Wearing of the Horns
File: So38n2b

So Soon This Evenin' (Axe Timing Song)


DESCRIPTION: ""So soon this evenin', hey now, mmmm, So soon this evenin', oh Lord, Back in the bottom... Just hewin' down timber... Done had my dinner... Don't feel no better...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (collected from David Tippett by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: work prison
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 228-229, "So Soon This Evenin'" (2 texts, 1 tune)
NOTES: Jackson says that the lyrics of this "are not songs in themselves"; rather, they were used to establish the rhythm for the axes used in cutting trees. But it seems to me that, if sea chanteys for timing are songs (which they clearly are), then this is a song -- or, at least, pieces like it were worth preserving to help future tree-cutters. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: JDM228

So We Hunted and We Hollered


See Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)

Sober Quaker, The


See Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) (File: E098)

Social Band, The


DESCRIPTION: "Bright angels on the water, Hovering by the light; Poor sinner stand in the darkness And cannot see the light. I want (Aunty Mary/Brother David) to go with me, I want Aunty Mary for to go with me (x2), To join the social band."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 105, "The Social Band" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12061
NOTES: The first and second half of this sound so different that I suspect they come from different sources, with the first half probably from a "literary" hymn. But I cannot identify it. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG105

Social Thistle and the Shamrock, The


DESCRIPTION: "The Scotch and Irish friendly are, their wishes are the same, The English nation envy us, and over us would reign ... Now to conclude and end my song, may we live long to see, The Thistle and the Shamrock, entwine the olive tree"
AUTHOR: Henry Joy McCracken (1767-1798) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Madden's _Literary Remains of the United Irishmen of 1798_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: England Ireland Scotland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 108, "The Social Thistle and the Shamrock" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Henry Joy McCracken (I)" (information about the author)
NOTES: The thistle represents Scotland and the shamrock represents Ireland. See, for example, "The Sprig of Shillelah." - BS
Although the Scots are descended from the Irish (or, more correctly, Highland Gaelic culture is descended from Irish; the genes may tell a different story), I suspect this could only have been written by an Ulster Protestant. And Henry Joy McCracken (1767-1798) was one of the most liberal and high-minded men in Ireland at the time; for his background, see the notes to "Henry Joy McCracken (I)." - RBW
File: Moyl108

Solas Market


DESCRIPTION: "Me sell me akee, go Solas Market, Not a quatty would sell, Send me out, I go Solas Market, Not a quatty would sell. Why not a light, not a bite, Not a quatty would sell. Why not a light, not a bite, Not a quatty would sell."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (recorded from Edith Perrin)
KEYWORDS: commerce food hardtimes
FOUND IN: West Indies
Roud #16397
RECORDINGS:
Edith Perrin, "Solas Market" [excerpt?] (on USWarnerColl01)
NOTES: There appear to be only two sources for this: The Edith Perrin recording made by the Warners, called "Solas Market," and a text in Jekyll's Jamaican Song & Story entitled "Linstead Market." Apart from the details of place, the choruses are similar, but there is almost no text to let us know what the songs are about (unless the Warners had more from Edith Perrin which they did not publish).
To make matters worse, the Perrin recording is very noisy -- almost unintelligible. It supplies the text quoted in the description, but I have had to reconstruct based in part on the Warner notes, and it must be considered uncertain. - RBW
File: RcSolMar

Sold in Hell


See Wicked Polly [Laws H6] (File: LH06)

Sold Off to Georgy


DESCRIPTION: "Farewell, fellow servants, O-ho! o-ho! I'm gwine 'way to leave you... I'm gwine to leave de ole county... I'm sold off to Georgy." The singer bids farewell to home, parents, master, wife, and child; he confesses his heart is breaking
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1824 (Printed in "The Valley of Shenandoah" by George Tucker)
KEYWORDS: slavery slave family separation work home
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Scott-BoA, p. 206, "Sold Off to Georgy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 94-95, "Hilo! Hilo!" (1 text, fragmentary, but apparently related to this song)
NOTES: "Georgy" is, of course, Georgia. - RBW
File: SBoA206

Soldier and his Lady, The


See Trooper and Maid [Child 299] (File: C299)

Soldier and the Lady, The


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

Soldier and the Sailor, The


DESCRIPTION: The sailor "has a good mind to pray For the rights of all people and the wrongs of all men." He accuses the lawyers of "tak[ing] your hard earnings and giv[ing] you hard laws"; the ministers for condemning you to hell, and the farmers for high prices
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1902 (Petrie)
KEYWORDS: political curse
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 277-278, "The Soldier and the Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 685, "The Soldier and the Sailor" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Kennedy 239, "The Soldier and the Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 94, "The Soldier's Prayer (The Soldier and the Sailor)" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST Doe277 (Partial)
Roud #350
RECORDINGS:
Archie Lennox, "The Soldier and the Sailor" (on FSB8)
Brigid Tunney, "The Soldier and the Sailor" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(226), "The Soldier and the Sailor"[title incomplete] ("As a sailor and a soldier was walking one day"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "'Pleasant and Delightful" (meter)
cf. "Ye Gentlemen of England (I)" [Laws K2] (theme)
NOTES: This appears to exist in two forms -- one, exemplified by Doerflinger, condemning various wrongs; the other, found in Kennedy, just calling for a good time (praying for beer and the like). There are, however, enough similarities that I would consider them still one song. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Doe277

Soldier Boy (I), The


See My Parents Reared Me Tenderly (I -- The Soldier Boy) (File: HHH466)

Soldier Boy (II), The


See The Faithful Sailor Boy [Laws K13] (File: LK13)

Soldier Boy (III), The (The Texas Volunteer)


DESCRIPTION: "I volunteered to Texas, I will have you all to know, A long road to travel, I never travelled before, Oh, my home, sweet home!" The singer recalls the sorrow his parents suffered when he left. The song ends with verses from "The Roving Gambler."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Cambiaire)
KEYWORDS: separation home travel floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cambiaire, pp. 20-21, "The Soldier Boy" (1 text)
Roud #11410
NOTES: This is a peculiar song, with an opening that seems to be known only from the Rakes family of Tennessee (mother and daughter: Mrs. J. P. Rakes and Lola Rakes). The interesting point is that the second half is entirely from "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man)" [Laws H4] -- but that it is well-integrated with the first half, about a fellow cajoled into volunteering to go to Texas. Why was he so induced? There is no hint. I suspect that we have only a fragment of the song of the Volunteer to Texas, missing both the beginning and the end. - RBW
File: Cmb020

Soldier Boy (IV)


See The Sailor Boy (I) [Laws K12] (File: LK12)

Soldier Boy [Laws O31]


DESCRIPTION: A large company of Irish soldiers must depart for India. One of them is explaining to his sweetheart that he must leave her. She (offers to come with him and is refused. She) tearfully bids him good luck and farewell.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: love farewell India soldier
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws O31, "Soldier Boy"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 80, "Soldier Boy" (1 text)
SHenry H244, pp. 295-296, "The Soldier Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 171, "The Soldier Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 814, SOLDBOY
Roud #1917
NOTES: Laws, relying on Greenleaf/Mansfield's broken version, locates the war in India. Henry (and its copy, Moylan) refers to India as a past war and has the soldiers leaving to fight the Russians.
Moylan: "As John Moulden suggests, the song is probably about the Crimean war, given the mention of Russians ..." - BS
The mention of Russians also allows for campaigns in Afghanistan -- which was, in fact, a nation created by the British to separate India from Russia. The British and Russians never really fought in Afghanistan, but there were times when conflict seemed possible. And there were plenty of other problems between Russia and Britain (mostly over Ottoman territory, but also, e.g., during the Russo-Japanese war when a Russian fleet attacked British fishermen).
But there is at least one other advantage to the Crimean War, and that is the soldier's refusal to let the girl come with him. This was, of course, a common theme in song, and one that predates the Crimean War. But it became particularly important around the time of the Crimean War, when the British military started excluding women in any capacity. Arthur Herman, To Rule the Waves, p. 453 footnote, notes that female sailors were "a regular feature of old navy life... one or two disguised themselves as men and served as ordinary ratings. All were expected to pitch in even in battle." He notes that two women even applied for medals for their service at Trafalgar, but were turned down -- "the precedent would prompt 'innumerable applications' from other women veterans." - RBW
File: LO31

Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)


DESCRIPTION: "I would not marry a doctor; He's always killing the sick." "I would not marry a blacksmith...." The girl praises the soldier/railroader: "O soldier boy, o soldier boy, O soldier boy for me; If ever I get married, A soldier's wife I'll be"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (published by C. B. Ball)
KEYWORDS: soldier marriage courting railroading technology humorous rejection
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 461-465, "A Railroader for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 374-377, "The Guerrilla Boy" (4 texts, 1 tune; the second of two texts filed as "C" is this song)
Randolph 493, "The Railroader" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 373-375, "The Railroader" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 493)
BrownIII 5, "Miss, Will You Have a Farmer's Son" (1 text, probably edited so the girl wants a California Boy and then again so she wants a Southerner, but too similar in style to file separately); 17, "I Wouldn't Marry" (7 text (some short) plus 6 excerpts, 1 fragment, and mention of 5 more, of which ""F" and the fragments "G" and "I" belong here)
SharpAp 272, "Soldier Boy for Me" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 68, "Soldier Boy for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 215, "A Railroader for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 465, "A Railroader for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 21, pp. 136-139, "The Buckskin Shirt" (1 text, 1 tune, a strange composite starting with "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man) [Laws H4]), breaks into a cowboy version of "Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)," and concludes with a stanza describing the happy marriage between the two)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 170, "(I wouldna have a baker, ava, va, va)" (1 short text, of this type but perhaps not this song)
Silber-FSWB, p. 343, "Daughters Will You Marry" (1 text)
cf. Kinloch-BBook IV, pp. 14-15 (no title) (1 text, beginning, "Awa wi' your slavery hireman," probably not this song but based on the same idea; Roud #8152)
ADDITIONAL: cf. _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 42, #1 (1997), p, 72-73, "Maedli, Witt Do Heiere? (Young Girl, Will You Marry?)" (1 text, 1 tune, a Pennsylvania Dutch analog to the "Daughter Will You Marry?" type of song)
ST R493 (Full)
Roud #1302
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "A Railroader for Me" (on LEnglish01)
May Kennedy McCord, "The Railroader" (AFS 5301 A2, 1941; on LC61)
Pete Seeger, "Daughter Will You Marry" (on PeteSeeger11)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farmer and the Shanty Boy" (theme)
cf. "The Husbandman and the Servingman" (theme)
cf. "The Plooman Laddie (I)" (theme)
cf. "Jinny Go Round and Around" (plot)
cf. "Fond of Chewing Gum" (floating verses)
cf. "The Bonnie Mason Laddie" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "Yon Bonnie Lad" (theme)
NOTES: It will be observed that the preferred occupation in this song can be almost anything -- and the rejected occupations can truly be anything at all. Cohen, p. 464, compares eight texts. All of them list famer as one of the occupations, anmd six list blacksmith, but there are 11 other occupations mentioned in one or another text. - RBW
C. B. Ball published this piece in 1907, but it's hard to believe he actually wrote it (at least in that year); the diverse collections by Belden (collected 1910!) , Randolph and Sharp clearly imply that it is older. - (PJS), RBW
Cohen notes that the Ball text is the first to mention railroads; it may be that Ball adapted an older song to the railroads. There is, however, one interesting side note: Laura Ingalls Wilder, By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 6, quotes a "railroad man" version. If Laura actually heard the song then, we could date the "railroad" versions to 1879. But, of course, Laura was writing not-quite-autobiography, and writing it more than fifty years later. So that's not a very good indication of date. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R493

Soldier Boy with Curly Hair, The


See The Last Fierce Charge [Laws A17] (File: LA17)

Soldier Bride's Lament, The


See The Lowlands of Holland (File: R083)

Soldier Came to a Bonnie Lassie's Window, A


DESCRIPTION: "A soldier came to a bonnie lassie's window." She says, "I winna lat in my red coat sodger To do as he has done before." He says he'd just stand sentry over her room. She questions why he takes off shoes and stockings; "nor do I mean to fright the cat"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: seduction dialog nightvisit soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 790, "A Soldier Came to a Bonnie Lassie's Window" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6199
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Young Munro" (tune, per GreigDuncan4)
File: GrD4790

Soldier from Missouri, The [Laws A16]


DESCRIPTION: A dying soldier sends a message to his home in Kansas. Having become a rebel at the urging of his neighbors and sweetheart; he regrets not following his mother's cautious advice
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: soldier death
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws A16, "The Soldier from Missouri"
Randolph 213, "A Soldier from Missouri" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 203-205, "A Soldier from Missouri" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 213A)
DT 365, SOLDMISS
Roud #2206
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Kansas Line
NOTES: Neither Randolph nor Laws mentions the fact, but Cohen considers this a parody of "Bingen on the Rhine." - RBW
File: LA16

Soldier Lad, The


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

Soldier Maid, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer, a maiden, runs away from her parents and enlists as a soldier/sailor. She proves highly successful. Sent home to recruit, a woman falls in love with the "soldier boy." The other woman betrays her secret; the woman is cashiered
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (GreigDuncan1)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer enlists as a (drummer/sailor) (and fights "with the Noble Duke of York at the siege of Valenciennes"). Her "fingers neat and small" makes her the best drummer. She sleeps with the men but remains "a maiden all the while," Sent as a guard to the Tower of London a girl falls in love with her, she reveals her secret which the girl betrays to the regiment. She is given a bounty by the queen for her courage, marries and teaches her husband to drum, and would enlist again "if the (Queen/Duke) be short of men"
KEYWORDS: soldier sailor love disguise trick cross-dressing betrayal war
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 24-July 28, 1793 - Siege of Valenciennes by the Allies including the British under the Duke of York (source: Campaigns in the Online Encyclopedia site "Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 182 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica")
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland,England(Lond,South)) Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
SHenry H497, p. 326, "The Drummer Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #104, p. 2, "The Soldier Maid" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 182, "The Soldier Maid" (6 texts, 6 tunes); 183, "The Female Soldier" (1 fragment)
Ord, p. 311, "The Soldier Maid" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 346-347, "The Soldier Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SAILMAID* SOLDMAID
ST DTsoldma (Full)
Roud #226
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Female Drummer" (on HCox01)
Mary Ann Haynes, "The Female Drummer" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(132), "The Female Drummer" ("A maiden I was at the age of sixteen"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(2338), Harding B 11(1187), Harding B 11(1188), Firth c.14(165), Firth c.14(166), Firth c.14(168), Harding B 11(970), Harding B 17(93b), Harding B 11(969), Harding B 11(2505), Harding B 16(93c), 2806 c.16(67), Harding B 20(240)[some words illegible], "The Female Drummer"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks o' Skene" (plot)
cf. "The Drum Major (The Female Drummer)" (plot)
cf. "Lauchie" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Handsome Young Sailor
When I Was a Fair Maid
The Drummer Girl
NOTES: The [long] description is from broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.17(132). In Mary Ann Haynes's version on Voice11 her secret is revealed when she is wounded on the battlefield and she would enlist again "If our old queen was to go short and never want of men." The queen is a character in all versions (the broadsides are almost identical to each other) but not as an indication there is no king. Possibly this is a side reference to one of King George III's bouts of "madness" (porphyria).
Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 11" - 11.9.02 cites broadsides from c.1655 to 1689, predating the Siege of Valenciennes. Between 1689 and 1793 the Musical Traditions notes that "Roy Palmer ... [reports] there was indeed a female drummer at Valenciennes by the name of Mary Ann Talbot (1778 - 1808). In 1809 Talbot was the subject of a book The Life and Surprising Adventures of Mary Ann Talbot."
GreigDuncan1 seems to me a minor change to two lines of "The Soldier Maid." - BS
Ben Schwartz originally described his texts of "The Female Drummer" as separate from "The Soldier Maid." As the above makes clear, the song evolved heavily over time -- e.g. the localization to Valenciennes. I consider "The Female Drummer" a special case of "The Soldier Maid," though, and have lumped accordingly.
This has proved very popular with folk revival singers. It doesn't seem to have been quite as popular in tradition, though by no means rare (the notes in Henry/Huntington/Herrmann list only fifteen traditional texts, mostly from Greig, but many Pop Folk recordings).
George III's madness, mentioned by Ben, is a controversial point. That he was not very clever is hard to deny. That he had bouts of *something* is also quite clear. The diagnosis of porphyria was suggested in the 1960s, but Peters, p. 4, notes that many of his symptoms do not match porphyria. Peters seems to argue for bipolar disorder with obsessive compulsive disorder eventually leading to dementia. It appears to me that this ignores some of his symptoms also, but we perhaps have to simply say that George III was not of sound mind and leave it there.
Nonetheless the mention of George III's madness helps us with the dating, since Valenciennes was fought over more than once. Valenciennes was one of the great border forts Louis XIV used to protect from invasions from the Netherlands, and was first fought over in July 1656 when the Prince de Conde (at that time serving the Spanish) forced the Vicomte de Turenne (then a French officer) to give up the siege of Valenciennes.
Admittedly there is no particular reason to think that English soldiers would be involved in that; Oliver Cromwell did not commit English troops to the fight (on the side of the French) until 1657.
George III had his first fit of madness in 1788, with later bouts in 1801, 1804, and from 1810 until his death in 1820 (Peters, p. 4). That first spell of madness, we note, started before the French Revolution.
The first attack on Valenciennes (then held by the Austrians) was undertaken by the French in late April 1792.It failed utterly. A second attempt, in June, managed to take Courtrai, but then collapsed (Pope, p. 495). Most of Belgium finally fell that fall (Pope, p. 189).
In 1793, the English put a force in Flanders under the Duke of York (George II's second son) which was supposed to reconquer Belgium. They managed, after a long siege, to retake Valenciennes (Pope, p. 189), but the Allied army then broke up as the individual nations pursued their own aims. York stayed in command until 1795, but his ineffectiveness was sufficient that he became the subject of parody; many think "The Noble Duke of York" is about him (Pope, p. 525, but see the notes to that song).
Incidentally, there are many historical records of women running off to join the army and navy. Herman, p. 224, tells of a woman (unnamed) who fought at La Hogue (1692) aboard the St. Andrew and was later invited to meet the queen. Davies, p. 166, says that a woman served on the French ship Achille at Trafalgar; she had enlisted to be near her husband, and was freed by the British after the ship was captured (compare Cordingly, p. 104). Cordingly, pp. 54-56, mentions a book by Suzanne Stark which documents about twenty women who served in the navy, one of whom, "William Brown," served during the Napoleonic Wars and became Captain of the Foretop, and later captain of the Forecastle, in the first-rate Queen Charlotte. That is a significant accomplishment for any sailor. She was eventually discovered, but managed to rejoin; records are not available to show her eventual fate.
Mary Lacy/William Chandler managed to serve in the Royal Navy so long that she actually gained a disability pension after being injured in shipwright's work (Cordingly, pp. 56-60). Rebecca Young, the subject of "The Female Rambling Sailor," died while in disguise in 1833 (Cordingly, p. 63). Hannah Snell's service in the navy became so famous that it earned her a job as an act in a sort of circus (Cordingly, pp. 68-70); she also became the subject of a much-exaggerated biography.
Carruth, p. 149, says that one Lucy Brewer served on the U. S. S. Constitution during the War of 1812 under the name "Nicolas Baker." Cordingly, pp. 47-52, gives details on this account: Brewer claimed to have had a child by a man who abandoned her, run away from home, become a prostitute, then gone to sea. She published three books about this career, later published as a single volume The Female Marine, which went through multiple editions before 1820. Even her former madam published a book about the girl (and, of course, claimed that Brewer had enjoyed her work and that her real name was Eliza Bowen). Cordingly, p. 53, does point out that the whole account has been shown to be fiction -- but surely many people in the nineteenth century believed it.
Cordingly, pp. 90-91, notes in addition that many naval ships had wives aboard -- especially the wives of the standing (warrant) officers, such as the gunner and carpenter. These sailors were allowed to take their wives aboard because they were theoretically assigned to their ships for life -- if their families did not come along, they could never see them. Of course, these wives were not in disguise (although the Admiralty tried to ban them; Cordingly, p. 92). But the point is, ships were more used to women than we sometimes think. We have records of four women aboard the Goliath at the Battle of the Nile, for instance -- and, to some extent, taking part in the fighting (Cordingly, p. 103).
As early as the Revolutionary War, we see disguised women fighting on the American side (Blanton/Cook, pp. 5-6). This was probably relatively easy to pull off in the colonial armies, which were anything but organized.
There are fairly extensive records of female soldiers in the American Civil War. At least two modern books on the subject have been written, Tsui's and Blanton/Cook's. Sadly, our personal knowledge of these women is slight -- as Blanton/Cook note on p. 2, most female soldiers were in disguise and did not write home or keep journals. Blanton/Cook catalog many of these women on pp. 10-24, but rarely have more than a few sentences about any of them. I would estimate that two-thirds of the female soldiers mentioned by Blanton/Cook are inadequately identified.
We have far more names of women who tried to volunteer and were rejected (e.g. Blanton/Cook, pp. 25-26). Such women of course could not be the subject of this song; they merely give additional evidence that women were willing to serve. Blanton/Cook, p. 28, note that a significant number of examiners were willing to let wives, especially newlyweds, join with their husbands; they imply that this was one of the major causes of female enlistment..
Still, a few female soldiers were better documented; e few even became officers: Cuban immigrant Loreta Janeta Velazquez reportedly served as "Lt. Henry Buford" from 1861 until discovered in 1863, though many of the stories about her are self-reported and dubious. Tsui, p. 29, even reprints a woodcut of her in uniform, with a mustache and beard. (I must admit to finding this account pretty unreliable. I am not alone -- but Blanton/Cook, p. 2, claim that many of her statements can be verified. On the other hand, on p. 9, they say she could not procure a regular commission, yet managed to serve at the very first major battle at Bull Run, after which she started writing her own orders and claims to have been wounded at Shiloh. She may have hung around the Confederate armies, but I think they are taking her memoirs too seriously.)
Whatever you think of Velasquez's yarns, the Confederates did deliberately commissioned one female officer, Sally Louisa Tompkins -- though she was commissioned to allow her to run a hospital. (Women were allowed to serve as nurses in the war -- Blanton/Cook, p. 66, mention that there were thousands of paid female nurses in the Union medical system -- although the majority of nurses at this time were male.)
On the other hand, it's hard to believe two stories found on p. 67 of Blanton/Cook. Supposedly a 12-year-old girl served as a regimental clerk, and it is claimed that a Black woman, Maria Lewis, impersonated a white man.
This is apart from the well-documented cases of women serving as spies. There were, of course, a lot of women who carried intelligence (with the overrated Belle Boyd being the most famous), and some who did it professionally. But this involved no disguise -- and most accounts I have seen say that spies made very little difference in the Civil War; there was little attempt to suppress newspaper accounts, so the military could get better information from enemy papers.
Several of these tales resemble folk songs. For example, we have several cases where, like the Handsome Cabin Boy, a woman is pregnant while on service. On p. 11, Blanton/Cook claim that a woman fought at the battle of Stones River/Murfreesboro while five months pregnant -- although they do not give her name. They also mention on pp. 13-15 a pregnant woman serving in the Seven Days' Battles, and staying with the army and fighting two more battles before giving birth -- and don't give her a name either. They also describe on p. 54 a New Jersey woman who gave birth while in the ranks and was discovered as a result -- but she too is unnamed. They also seem to imply (p. 72) that this woman was promoted from private to corporal to sergeant. It is not clear how many of these women became pregnant while in service, but odds are that the first two, at least, conceived after they entered the military, since most soldiers in the armies involved had been inducted before the women became pregnant.
Blanton/Cook, p. 32, do note that there are several known instances of a woman running away to be a soldier alongside her lover because the parents had disapproved of her young man. They also note, on pp. 41-42, women who went to war to avenge a relative or lover.
According to Blanton/Cook, p. 62, it was not uncommon for several men in the ranks to know that one of their comrades was female. The young women generally were not discharged unless one of their officers found out.
Tsui profiles several disguised soldiers, but by no means all -- a woman named Mollie Bean fought in the 47th North Carolina regiment, and was used as a major character in Harry Turtledove's historical science fiction novel The Guns of the South. Turtledove offers as her reason a desire to escape a career as a prostitute. He admits that this is pure fiction, but Blanton/Cook, p, 36, cite several women who joined the Union army to escape such a career.
Although tales of female Civil War soldiers seem to be common, they cannot have inspired all the songs of this time; Blanton/Cook, p. 42, say that several Civil War soldiers were inspired by stories of the Female Warrior Bold.
Tsui, p. 1, states that "Scholars today estimate that about 250 women joined the Southern troops and that up to 1,000 women may have enlisted in both the Confederate and Union armies." I do not know the basis for this estimate -- it sounds as if it might just be a case of "There's one in every regiment!" Though in fact that would give a somewhat higher figure for the Federals. Based on the statistical totals in Phisterer, the Union armies eventually mustered the equivalent of about 1830 regiments of volunteers, plus 130 regiments of Black troops, 30 regiments of regulars, and about 50 regiments of soldiers from Confederate states. That's roughly two million men in arms. So it was really a case of "There's one in every brigade."
There were far more than that with the British army in many of its fights; according to Cordingly, p. 93, there were about 4500 women with the British Army in the Peninsular campaign during the Napoleonic Wars.
It's interesting to note how "folkloric" some of these women's stories sound. For example, Tsui, pp. 8-9, says that Sarah Emma Edwards ran away from home at fifteen to avoid being married, and at twenty she enlisted in a Michigan regiment as Franklin Thompson (Tsui, p. 10), though she served primarily as a medical attendant rather than a front line soldier. She also fell in love with at least one of her officers (pp. 17-18). Later on, she would desert (p. 20). Must have been quite the character....
The very earliest instance of a cross-dressing woman being revealed by accident, however, seems to go back all the way to classical Greece. According to Jones, p. 50, at the Olympics in 440 B.C.E., a widow, Kallipateira, had a son who was entered in the boxing event. Women were excluded from watching, so she disguised herself as a man. When her son was victorious, she leapt onto the field and her clothing tore, revealing her gender. Women who watched the games were supposed to be killed; she, however, was spared because the boy had won, but the rules for competitors and trainers were tightened after that -- arguably the beginning of gender testing in sports. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: DTsoldma

Soldier of the Cross, A


DESCRIPTION: "I am a soldier of the cros, A follower of the lamb, I shall not fear to own his cause Nor blush to speak his name." "Sure I must fight if I would reigh, Increase my courage, Lord...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad soldier
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 86, "A Soldier of the Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5028
File: ChFRA086

Soldier Rode From the East to the West, A


See Trooper and Maid [Child 299] (File: C299)

Soldier Traveling from the North, The


See Trooper and Maid [Child 299] (File: C299)

Soldier, Soldier, Marry Me


See Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me (File: R065)

Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me


DESCRIPTION: The girl asks the soldier to marry her. He says that he lacks suit, shoes, whatnot. She runs off to the craftsmen and fetches him everything he mentions. Now well-equipped, he tells her that he already has a wife at home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1903
KEYWORDS: courting lie request rejection soldier dialog
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England(West),Scotland(Bord)) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Randolph 65, "Soldier, Soldier, Marry Me" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Eddy 89, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 7, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Brewster 96, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (1 text)
SharpAp 90, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 254-257, "Soldier, Soldier" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 78, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, p. 61, "The Gallant Soldier" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 30-31, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 305, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 109, pp. 224-225, "Dutchman, Dutchman, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
JHCox 159, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 344, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me" (1 text)
DT, SOLDMARR*
Roud #489
RECORDINGS:
Colin Keane, "Soldier, Soldier" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (on NLCR10)
Russ Pike, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (AFS, 1941; on LC02)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Soldier Will You Marry Me" (Columbia 15589-D, 1930)
File: R065

Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me


See Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me (File: R065)

Soldier, The


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

Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?


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

Soldier's Epitaph


DESCRIPTION: "Born in North Carolina, Raised in Tennessee, Worked like hell in Georgia, Died in Germinee."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death work
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 396, "Soldier's Epitaph" (1 short text)
Roud #11755
File: Br3396

Soldier's Farewell, The


See Fare You Well, My Darling (File: R736)

Soldier's Joy


DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with verses; "I am my mama's darling boy...." "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine...." "Fifteen cents for the morphine, 25 cents for the beer/Fifteen cents for the morphine, gonna take me away from here"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with verses; "I am my mama's darling boy/Play that tune called Soldier's Joy"; "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine/Along come a chicken and says 'You're mine'"; "Fifteen cents for the morphine, 25 cents for the beer/Fifteen cents for the morphine, gonna take me away from here"
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad drugs
FOUND IN: Britain US(All) Scandinavia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1743, "The Soldier's Joy" (2 texts, 1 tune)6389
Linscott, pp. 109-111, "Soldier's Joy" (1 tune plus dance instructions)
DT, SOLDRJO2
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink] & his Square Dance Band, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 06297, 1941)
Blue Ridge Highballers, "Soldier's Joy" (Columbia 15168-D, 1927)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 45011, 1925)
Zeb Harrelson & M. B. Padgett, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 45078, 1927; rec. 1926)
Sid Harkreader w. Uncle Dave Macon, "Soldier's Joy" (Vocalion 14887, 1924)
Kessinger Brothers, "Soldier's Joy" (Brunswick 341, c. 1929)
John D. Mounce et al, "Soldier's Joy" (on MusOzarks01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier's Joy" (on NLCR07) (on NLCR16)
Aulton Ray, "Soldier Joy" (Gennett 6205, 1927)
Glenn Smith, "Soldier's Joy" [instrumental] (on GraysonCarroll1)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Soldier's Joy" (Bluebird B-5658, 1934; RCA Victor 21-2168, 1947) (Columbia 15538-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on Tanner2)
Taylor's Kentucky Boys, "Soldier Joy" (Gennett 6205, 1927)
Doc Watson, "Soldier's Joy" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Love Somebody, Yes I Do" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
My Stetson Hat (File: Ohr083)
NOTES: The quintessential nonballad, but I've indexed it because it is cross-referenced elsewhere.
Reputed to have been found around the year 1000, but...
Morphine was reputed to be called "soldier's joy" during the American Civil War, but the title is older than that. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcSoJoy

Soldier's Lament, The


DESCRIPTION: "Beneath a far Australian sky an Irish soldier lay." As he is dying he thinks of his boyhood in Ireland and asks to be buried there. "My dying prayer -- May God bless the island of the brave!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: homesickness death Australia Ireland lament nonballad patriotic soldier
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, p. 163, "The Soldier's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6464
NOTES: This appears, on its face, to be derived from On Buena Vista's Battlefield or one of its relatives (or, perhaps Will Hays's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" [Laws A15]). But which, and how it came to be as it is (in Canada, no less), I do not know. - RBW
File: Peas163

Soldier's Last Letter to His Sweetheart, The


DESCRIPTION: "Seven days and seven nights we retreated ... And if we don't overcome them They'll send us all down to the grave."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: soldier battle death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 107, "The Soldier's Last Letter to His Sweetheart" (1 fragment)
Roud #5787
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan1 fragment.
GreigDuncan1: "It refers to the disastrous campaign in Flanders against the French in 1793 under the Duke of York." - BS
Much depends on whether this is actually the same song as one listed in earlier chapbooks. I find it interesting that Grieg collected it in 1917, three years after the beginning of World War I, about the time the (surviving) soldiers of the original British Expeditionary Force would have come home.
The Germans of course opened the war by launching the "Schlieffen Plan," invading France via Belgium (Flanders). The British were on the left of the long French line which extended from Switzerland to Belgium (Keegan, p. 94). Their first major engagement was the Battle of Mons, August 23, 1914 (Keegan, p. 97). Although the British force was heavily outnumbered, they were all regulars, and most of the soldiers were trained marksmen. The Germans were draftees. The Germans suffered such heavy losses that there were claims that the entire British army was using machine guns -- though in fact they were deficient in this key weapon (Stokesbury, p. 44).
The British, because their troops were so good, were able to hold the Germans off their front, but they were so few (apart from the nearly-useless cavalry, only four divisions of infantry! -- Chandler/Beckett, p. 211) that they eventually were outflanked as the French retreated, and had to pull back themselves (Keegan, p. 97).
"The great retreat has begun, a retreat which would carry the French armies, and the BEF on their left, back to the outskirts of Paris during the next fourteen days" (Keegan, p. 100). "For the British, the Retreat from Mons passed into legend" (Stokesbury, p. 44) -- for it was a fighting retreat, with contact with the Germans possible at any moment. Many soldiers must have felt they were on the brink of being overwhelmed -- though in fact the British survived (well, other than the ones who were shot). There was, indeed, a very bad moment at Le Cateau, when one British corps, forgotten, was nearly wrecked (Stokesbury, p. 46). The French, with some British help, would finally stop the Germans at the Battle of the Marne.
Of course, the situation fits the 1793 Flanders campaign as well. Frederick Duke of York (1763-1827), the second son of George III, repeatedly proved to be a lousy field commander. (So much so that he is often said to be the officer who inspired "The Noble Duke of York"; Chandler/Beckett, p. 146.) Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 119, notes that he was groomed from an early age to be an officer, but quotes Lord Cornwallis's description of him: "The Royal Person whom I saw does not give much hope, further than a great deal of good nature and a very good heart. His military ideas are those of a wild boy of the Guards." (These were the days of commission by purchase, when officers didn't have to know anything except how to scrape up cash.)
Frederick fought in Flanders from 1793 to 1794, when he was defeated at Turcoing and recalled. He also had a bad experience in the Low Countries in 1799. Being a prince, however, he eventually was made a field marshal (Chandler/Beckett, p. 146). To give him his due, he was a good administrator, and enacted needed reforms in the army when commander-in-chief (Chandler/Beckett, p. 147). - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1107

Soldier's Letter, The


DESCRIPTION: "Dear Madam I am a soldier And my speech is rough and plain. I'm not much used to writing And I hate to give my name." The writer was a friend of the girl's lover; they fought together. The young man died; the old soldier is left to write of his death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: soldier death separation friend battle farewell
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 244, "The Soldier's Letter" (1 text)
Roud #4389
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Soldier (Erin Far Away I)" [Laws J6] (plot) and references there
File: R244

Soldier's Life (It's Little You Good People Know)


DESCRIPTION: "It's little you good people know(s) What we poor people undergoes When called upon to take up arms To guard our country from all harms. As to our grub, we have enough Although our beef is lean an tough... We hope to get good beef again."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Allsopp)
KEYWORDS: food soldier hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 228, (no title) (one fragment)
Roud #16590?
File: FORA228

Soldier's Life, A


DESCRIPTION: After an introduction from "The Sailor Boy," ("A soldier's life is a weary life, Robs young girls..."), the girl is given a letter about her lover, telling her that he is dying. She finds his grave, and says she will join him with joy when she dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: love separation soldier death burial
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
JHCoxIIB, #11, pp. 145-146, "A Soldier's Life" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CoxIIB11 (Partial)
Roud #273
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sailor Boy (I)" [Laws K12] (lyrics, theme)
NOTES: This clearly opens with material from "The Sailor Boy" (with which Roud lumps it), but this breaks off into something else. The combination probably qualifies as a separate song. - RBW
File: CoxIIB11

Soldier's Poor Little Boy, The [Laws Q28]


DESCRIPTION: A poor boy, trapped in a severe storm, comes to a lady's door to ask for shelter. He explains that his mother is dead and his father gone to war. The lady lets him in and tells him to stay as long as he has to, for her own son has fallen (in battle)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: orphan mercy father death soldier family
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws Q28, "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 100, "The Little Soldier's Boy" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 43, "The Friendless Soldier Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 273-275, "A Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Eddy 134, "A Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (1 text)
Randolph 718, "A Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Warner 154, "A Poor Little Sailor Boy" (1 text)
JHCox 73, "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (2 texts)
JHCoxIIA, #28, p. 104, "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 151, "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (2 texts)
Brewster 67, "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (2 texts plus mention of 3 more)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 284-285, "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Soldier's Boy" (source notes only)
DT 536, SOLDBOY SOLDBOY2
Roud #258
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fisherman's Boy" [Laws Q29] (plot)
cf. "The Farmer's Boy" [Laws Q30] (plot)
cf. "The Fisherman's Girl" (plot)
cf. "The Poor Smuggler's Boy" (plot)
NOTES: Cox reports this in a Philadelphia broadside attributed to Charles Bender, but it is obviously older and more widespread. Both Belden and Laws mention it as having British antecedents, but the only British occurrences are in broadsides.
The Warner tune is described as a variant of "The Star of the County Down." The other versions generally have a different melody. - RBW
File: LQ28

Soldier's Prayer, The


See The Soldier and the Sailor (File: Doe277)

Soldier's Return (I), The


DESCRIPTION: Jimmie returns home from the war. He disguises himself in bandages and says his true self is close behind. He sees that everyone, including "my Jessie" is truly happy. He leaves them planning the wedding "Since Jimmy escaped the soldier's grave"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1859 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 1879)
KEYWORDS: wedding war return disguise family soldier
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 160-161, "The Soldier's Return" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2700
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1879, "Soldier's Return" ("The wars for many months were o'er"), J.O. Bebbington (Manchester), 1855-1858
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (plot) and references there
File: CrMa160

Soldier's Return (II), The


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

Soldier's Song (I), The


See The Old Tobacco Box (File: FSC143)

Soldier's Sweetheart, The


See Once I Had a Sweetheart (I) (File: BrII140)

Soldier's Wooing, The


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

Soldiers' Song (II), The


See Maine Soldiers' Song (File: Gray158)

Soleil s'en Va Se Coucher, Le (The Sun Is Going Down)


DESCRIPTION: French. A gentleman asks his lover to join him at an inn. She has one drink and says she must leave. He suspects she has changed lovers. That's your fault, she says. I waited three years for you with no news.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage courting infidelity dialog
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 596-597, "Le Soleil s'en Va Se Coucher" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
La Bergere Refuse les Presents
File: Pea596

Solidarity Forever


DESCRIPTION: The crimes of the corporations and their bosses are described. But the workers can protect themselves, as the chorus notes: "Solidarity forever (x3), For the union makes us strong."
AUTHOR: Words: Ralph Chaplin
EARLIEST DATE: 1915
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad political work derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 282-283, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 91, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 181, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 374-375, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 133, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
DT, SOLIDART*
Roud #15158
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger , "Solidarity Forever" (on PeteSeeger1, PeteSeeger48)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune & meter) and references there
File: SBoA282

Some Delights in Cards and Dice


See The Scotch Wooing of Willy and Nanny (File: GrD4919)

Some Do Like the Tortoise-Shell


DESCRIPTION: Lullaby about cats: some like tortoise-shell, some white and some grey. The singer's favorite is "the old black cat." There is the obligatory "sleep, baby buntin'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: lullaby animal baby
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #159, p. 2, ("Some do like the tortoise-shell") (1 text)
GreigDuncan8 1553, "Some Do Like the Tortoise-Shell" (1 text)
Roud #13208
File: GrD1553

Some Folks Say John Was a Baptist


See Lonesome Valley (I) (File: Wa162)

Some Folks Say that a Nigger Won't Steal


See Some Folks Say that a Preacher Won't Steal (File: Br3423)

Some Folks Say that a Preacher Won't Steal


DESCRIPTION: "Some folks say that a (preacher/nigger) won't steal, But I caught (one) in my cornfield." This stanza floats but sometimes is used as a platform for various complaints about the raiders on the singer's field
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: thief clergy floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 423, "Some Folks Say that a Nigger Won't Steal" (3 short texts plus 1 fragment, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more. Almost all are mixed; "A" is this piece, but "G" has the chorus of "Run, Nigger, Run" while "E" and "F" have the "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" chorus); see also the "B" text of 435, "The Dummy Line"; also 511, "The Preacher Song" (1 text, a complex mix of verses from "Turkey in the Straw" and this song with the "Uncle Eph" chorus)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 224-225, (no title) (1 short text, with the "My ole mistus promised me" and "Some folks say a nigger won't steal" verses and the 'Mourner, you shall be free" chorus)
Roud #6707
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Coney Isle" (lyrics)
cf. "Rosie, Darling Rosie" (lyrics)
NOTES: This is one of those big messes, since it may just be a floating fragment grafted into other pieces. It's hard to tell, given the brevity of the Brown texts.
It's not clear, looking at the evidence, whether it was originally a "preacher" or a "nigger" accused of the thefts. But I strongly suspect that it was a preacher; the rules of textual criticism say, "Prefer the harder reading," and "preacher" is the harder reading; many people would be reluctant to accuse a minister of stealing, but -- in the south at least -- Negroes were suspected even when there was compelling evidence of their innocence.
Dr. David E. Chinitz, however, sends me this note, "The lines in question--'Some folks say that a (preacher/nigger) won't steal, But I caught (one) in my cornfield'--are the opening lines of 'Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield,' a once-popular barbershop quartet. I believe that this song dates from the 1890s, and it is not to be confused with the 1901 hit with the same title by Gus Edwards and Will D. Cobb. The last line of the 1901 song alludes to the earlier song.
"If the original source of the 'floating fragment' is indeed the song I mentioned, then the correct reading is not 'preacher" but "nigger.' In his book Barber Shop Ballads and How to Sing Them (1925), Sigmund Spaeth suggests in a footnote that 'preacher' was an alternative adopted by 'colored' singing groups (p. 41). But Spaeth doesn't seem entirely reliable on this issue. On that same page, he assures his readers confidentially ('between ourselves') that African Americans 'really prefer the forthright "nigger" to the patronizingly polite "darkey."'
"I have seen the line quoted using 'darkie.' But the one early recording I've heard of the song (I'm sorry I don't know the year) used 'nigger.' And it was two, not one, that the speaker claimed to have 'caught' in his cornfield -- one with a shovel, and one with a hoe."
Until we know how the song became traditional, of course, this cannot be the final word. But it's interesting. I have now found 1924 sheet music crediting "Way Down Yonder (In The Cornfield)" to Fedrick Johnson & Harley Rosso. The versin in the sheet music (which was printed in 1925) begins "Some people say that a coon won't steal." But since this was created after Brown collected the song, it doesn't prove much.
Incidentally, John Hartford eventually sang it with the guilty party being a hippie. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Br3423

Some Have Fathers Gone to Glory


See The Other Bright Shore (File: R611)

Some Little Bug


DESCRIPTION: Singer describes perils of eating various foods, which can lead to ptomaine and death. This is why, before meals, some people pray. Ch.: "Some little bug is gonna get you someday..." "Eat that luscious ripe pineapple/And the sextons dust the chapel."
AUTHOR: Benjamin Hapgood Burt & Roy Atwell (lyrics); Silvio Hein (tune in sheet music; tune of folk version by unknown author)
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: disease warning death funeral food humorous nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, SOMEBUG
RECORDINGS:
Roy Atwell, "Some Little Bug Is Going to Find You" (Columbia A-1926, 1916; rec. 1915)
Bradley Kincaid, "Some Little Bug Is Goin' To Get You Someday" (Bluebird B-5179/Montgomery Ward M-4379, 1933)
Billy Murray, "Some Little Bug Is Going to Find You" (Victor 17826, 1916; rec. 1915)
Unidentified baritone solo [Dan Quinn], "Some Little Bug Is Going to Find You" (Emerson 764, 1916)
Walter Van Brunt, "Some Little Bug Is Going to Find You" (CYL: Edison [BA] 2823, n.d.)
NOTES: This has attained enough popularity in the bluegrass and folk-revival communities to warrant inclusion. The Bradley Kincaid recording, which is the one that has spread, uses a very different tune from the one found in the sheet music; possibly Kincaid wrote it. - PJS
File: RcSLB

Some of These Days


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

Some of These Days and It Won't Be Long


See Take This Hammer (File: FR383)

Some Rival Has Stolen My True Love Away (The Rifles, The Merry King)


DESCRIPTION: The singer complains that a rival has stolen his true love "so I in old England no longer can stay." He will "swim the wide ocean" to her and, when they meet he'll "welcome her kindly." A health to true lovers and confusion to rivals.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Broadwood)
KEYWORDS: love exile separation derivative floatingverses nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 5, "The American King" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Lucy E. Broadwood, editor, English Traditional Songs and Carols (London, 1908 ("Digitized by Google")),pp. 108-111, 125, "Some Rival Has Stolen My True Love Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #587
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Love's Fierce Desire and Hope's of Recovery" (source) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Americans Have Stolen My True Love Away
NOTES: The description is based on Broadwood. Reeves-Sharp includes the first two of Broadwood's three verses and adds three floating verses: "... meeting is pleasure ... the grave it will moulder you....," "...Don't settle your mind on your sycamore tree For the leaves they will but wither...," and "The cuckoo is a merry bird... she'll ever sing cuckoo till the summer draws near." Broadwood has an image missing in Reeves-Sharp but included in "Love's Fierce Desire": "... I'll be as constant as a true turtle dove... never... prove false...."
One of the Reeves-Sharp texts in the composite is all but the "meeting is pleasure" floater.
Reeves-Sharp begins, "The Americans have stolen...."
The story line makes less sense here than in the source, "Love's Fierce Desire and Hope's of Recovery." In "Rival," the exiled man would swim back to his sweetheart, ignoring his exile. In "Love's Fierce Desire" he is exiled but it is the woman who would swim to him, etc., so that, presumably, both would remain exiled. - BS
The Butterworth version also included the cuckoo floating verse, although it was relegated to the notes by editor Dawney.
Broadwood suggests that the "Merry King" of some versions is Edward IV (reigned 1461-1470 and 1471-1483). This makes a certain amount of sense, in that Edward IV had an immense number of sexual liasons -- more than any king since at least John, and probably since Henry II or even Henry I, all of whom are too early to be subjects for ballads. And, other than Charles II, few kings since then have been so lusty. But even Edward IV is very early for a ballad subject, and he wasn't particularly jealous; he would not have driven a man out of the country because he lusted after his wife. Even if the original reference is indeed to the "Merry King" stealing the singer's love, I strongly suspect the reference is to something else -- perhaps a boy gone away to be a soldier. Which makes an eighteenth century date the most likely. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BuDa005

Some Ships in Port


DESCRIPTION: Ships are listed and their characteristics or owner noted: "Gaffney's two clippers, Caledonia and Glynn ... the noble torpedo they call Jenny Lynd ... the Alice T with Splanche on her bow."
AUTHOR: "Splanche" Brien
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: moniker commerce sea ship nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, p. 53, "Some Ships in Port" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captains and Ships" (catalog of ships)
NOTES: Ranson: "This ... reflects the days of Wexford's glory, when her sailing ships went out over the Seven Seas" - BS
File: Ran053

Some Treat of David


DESCRIPTION: Father Murphy excels David and Joshua. His victories are listed, and the loss at Vinegar Hill; "after all, alas, he was taken, And stripped quite naked in the open street; His flesh and bone were separated, And a crimson stream at his joints did meet"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: battle execution rebellion Ireland clergy patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 26, 1798 - Beginning of the Wexford rebellion
May 27, 1798 - The Wexford rebels under Father John Murphy defeat the North Cork militia
June 5, 1798 - The Wexford rebels attack the small garrison (about 1400 men, many militia) at New Ross, but are repelled
June 21, 1798 - The rebel stronghold a Vinegar Hill is taken, and the Wexford rebellion effectively ended
July 2, 1798 - Father Murphy (1753-1798) captured, executed and cremated.
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 11A, "Some Treat of David" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Father Murphy (I)" (subject of Father Murphy) and references there
NOTES: "The end for Father John Murphy came on July 2, 1798 when he and fellow rebel leader James Gallagher were captured by military forces loyal to the British crown. Fr. John was brutally beaten for hours by the yeomen warders, finally stripped of his clothes, denied a trial by jury and hung from the town gallows.
For the perceived insult of being a Catholic priest and not cooperating with the local authorities Fr. John's body was subjected to further desecration when the yeoman, "unsatisfied by the lack of entertainment" dropped the dead body of Fr. John into a nearby barrel of pitch and lit it on fire until the corpse was consumed. His ashes were scattered in the town square as a warning to all those who dare to take up arms against the British crown." (source: Father John Murphy of Boulavogue by Nicholas Furlong as summarized at site of Ancient Order of Hibernians Father John Murphy -- Division #9 Plymouth, MA 02360)
Zimmermann p. 46, fn. 57: In 1866 this song was still "dangerous" enough that a ballad-singer could be arrested in County Down for its sale. - BS
For a fuller history of Father Murphy, see the notes to "Father Murphy (I)."
The issue of Murphy's death is vexing. That he was captured and hung seems certain. Whether he was tortured is another question. Golway,p. 87, says he and his bodyguard were stripped, flogged, and Murphy hung on the spot, then his body burned. Similarly Bartlett/Dawson/Keough, p. 135: "He was stripped, mercilessly flogged, hanged and decapitated and his corpse burnt in a barrel." But Golway's citation system, which is very strange, does not appear to cite a source for this claim (might it have been this song?), and Bartlett/Dawson/Keough has no footnotes at all
I eventually checked eight other Irish histories, some specific to the 1798 and some more general. Six do not mention Murphy's death. (One, specific to the last part of the eighteenth century, doesn't even mention Murphy!) Kee, p. 124, mentions that he was hanged, his body burned, and his head set on a pike -- but he doesn't cite a source either! OxfordCompanion, p. 373, mentions his hanging, but no torture or cremation.
The whole thing has strange parallels to the death of Jesus, too.
Murphy was not the only one to be listed as having his body burned; see the fate of Captain Swayne described in "The Song of Prosperous."
Examining the sources, it's clear that the pro-English sources don't mention his fate, the pro-Irish do. While most of the Irish leaders were eventually executed, few were executed without trial. Of course, junior officers didn't always follow policy. But I really wish someone could cite a source for this atrocity!
The mentions of David and Joshua are clearer. The two were the earliest members of the so-called Nine Worthies. They were also the Old Testament figures best known for conquest.
They also were, unlike Murphy, successful enough soldiers to die in their beds. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Zimm011A

Some Valiant Soldier


DESCRIPTION: "I want some valiant soldier here (x3), To help me bear the cross. O hail, Mary, hail (x2), To help me bear the cross." Alternate secomd ver: "For I weep, I weep, I can't hold out; If any mercy, Lord, O pity poor me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad soldier
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 45, "Hail, Mary" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the first text is clearly related to this; the second text and tune probably belongs with "Many Thousand Gone (Auction Block)"); p. 50, "Some Valiant Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12001 and 12008
NOTES: Roud splits "Hail Mary" (#12001) and "Some Valiant Soldier" (#12008). This is understandable; both are known only from Allen/Ware/Garrison (at least as far as he and I know), and that book splits them. Very much of the material in Allen/Ware/Garrison has now vanished completely, and much of the rest is free-floating material. It is certainly possible that the two are of different origin (they have different tunes). But, given that half the words are the same, it seemed to me more useful in this case to lump them.
As a wild guess, this may have started as a Catholic song with the Marian references. Then it was revised toward Protestantism. (The change is unlikely to have gone the other way, since the non-Marian version would be acceptable to Catholics "as is.") - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG045

Somebody (II)


See Somebody's Tall and Handsome (File: R380)

Somebody's All de Time Talkin' 'Bout Me


DESCRIPTION: "Somebody's all de time talkin' 'bout me, But that's all right." "Talk about me just as much as you please, I'm goin' to tell it to Jesus down on my knees." "Talk about my Jesus here below, Talkin' 'bout me wherever you go."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 634, "Somebody's All de Time Talkin' 'Bout Me" (1 text)
Roud #11933
File: Br3634

Somebody's Darling


DESCRIPTION: "Into the ward of the clean white-washed halls Where the dead slept and the dying lay... Somebody's darling was borne one day." "Somebody's darling, somebody's pride, Who'll tell his mother where her boy died?" All bid farewell to the handsome boy soldier
AUTHOR: Words: Marie Ravenal de la Coste / Music: John Hill Hewitt (according to Silber-CivWar)
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Wharton)
KEYWORDS: soldier death Civilwar mother
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-CivWar, pp. 84-85, "Somebody's Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SOMEDARL*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p.222, "(Somebody's Darling)" (1 fragment)
NOTES: H. M. Wharton's War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy (p. 188) gives the author's name as "Marie La Coste," rather than "de la Coste." Allsopp says it was *sung* by "Marie La Conte of Georgia." - RBW
File: SCW84

Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door


DESCRIPTION: "Somebody's knockin' at your door (x2), Go, Mary, go, Martha, Somebody's knockin'...." "It's your mother, Somebody's... It's your father...." "In the churchyard...." "It's the preacher...." "Come to tell you, Somebody's knockin' at your door."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad clergy
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 635, "Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door" (1 text)
Roud #11931
File: Br3635

Somebody's Talking About Jesus


See Everywhere I Go My Lord (File: CNFM061A)

Somebody's Tall and Handsome


DESCRIPTION: "Somebody's tall and handsome, Somebody's fond and true, Somebody's hair is very black, And somebody's eyes are blue." Said somebody comes to ask the singer to marry, "And of course I said all right."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Randolph); Wehman printed a similar broadside c. 1884
KEYWORDS: courting marriage mother father ship
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 380, "Somebody's Tall and Handsome" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 310-311, "Somebody's Tall and Handsome" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 380A)
BrownIII 275, "Somebody" (2 text plus mention of 2 more)
Warner 163, "Tommy" (1 text, 1 tune, heavily localized, in which Tommy owns a speedboat and father is happy to be rid of his daughter)
Fuson, pp. 101, "Someone" (1 text, which has degenerated into a repeating song with this first verse as chorus: "Someone called for (mother/brother/sister/father), And mother went out to see, Mother came back with a tear in her eye, Someone has asked for me")
Sandburg, pp. 464-465, "Somebody" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 55-56, "[Somebody]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 82, "Somebody" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SOMBODY
ST R380 (Full)
Roud #761
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Tar Heels, "Somebody's Tall and Handsome" (Victor V-40128, 1929; on CrowTold02)
Martha Ann Midgette, "Tommy" (on USWarnerColl01)
Abigail Hall Ritchie, "Somebody's Tall and Handsome" (on Ritchie03)
File: R380

Somebody's Waiting for Me


DESCRIPTION: The singer reports that, being unemployed and broke, he has taken a job as a sailor. All the while, in all the ports he visits and despite all the fine things he sees, he remembers that "There is somebody waiting for me At an old cabin down by the sea..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Sweet Bros.)
KEYWORDS: sea separation love
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 160, "Somebody's Waiting for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa160 (Partial)
Roud #7504
RECORDINGS:
Cousin Levi & his Carolina Bluebirds, "Somebody's Waiting" (Bluebird B-7522, 1938)
Ernest V. Stoneman, Willie Stoneman, and The Sweet Brothers, "Somebody's Waiting for Me" (Gennett 6620 [as by the Sweet Brothers]/Supertone 9323 [as by the Caldwell Brothers], 1929/Champion 15586 [as by the Clark Brothers]; rec. 1928); Ernest Stoneman and Eddie Stoneman, "There's Somebody Waiting for Me" (Vocalion 02632, 1934)
Charles K. "Tink" Tillett, "Somebody's Waiting for Me" [instrumental] (on USWarnerColl01)
File: Wa160

Someone


See Somebody's Tall and Handsome (File: R380)

Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah


See I've Been Working on the Railroad (File: FSWB209)

Somerset Carol


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you worthy gentlemen That may be standing by, Christ our blessed savior Was born on Christmas day... Oh we wish you the comfort and tidings of joy!" The Christ child is born and laid in the manger; the singers wish the householders good cheer
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: religious Christmas wassail Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBC 8, "Somerset Carol" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 377, "Comfort and Tidings of Joy" (1 text)
Roud #394
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen"
NOTES: Although this song does not actually use the word "wassail," the general tenor (including the final blessing on the householder) is very wassail-like, which is why I have supplied the keyword. The relationship with God Rest You Merry" is obvious (Roud lumps them), though its exact nature is unclear. I suspect, however, that this is a composite piece. - RBW
File: FSWB377B

Somerset Wassail


DESCRIPTION: "Wassail, wassail, all over the town, The cup is white and the ail is brown." Singer toasts the wassail bowl, likewise the residents of the house, begging entry, food, drink, hospitality and money.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1857 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: request ritual drink food begging nonballad wassail
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Wales)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Sharp-100E 92, "Wassail Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBC 32, "Somerset Wassail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #350, p. 180, "(Wassail, wassail to our town)"
DT, WASSOMER*
Roud #209
RECORDINGS:
Phil Tanner, "The Wassail Song" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741, Voice16)
Wassailers, "The Wassail Song" (on Voice13)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gloucestershire Wassailers' Song" (subject, one verse)
cf. "Here We Come A-Wassailing" (subject)
cf. "Wassail Song (III)" (subject)
cf. "Le Roi du Bal (King of the Ball)" (subject)
NOTES: The custom of "wassailing" (going from house to house, usually on January 5th, begging food, drink and hospitality) is mentioned as far back as the 12th century in England; similar rituals are found across the continent of Europe and in the United States. -PJS
"Wassail," incidentally, is from Old English "Wes hael," "Be hale/whole," i.e. "Be in good health."
Paul Stamler suggests that this should not be called the "Somerset Wassail," because it's well-known outside Somerset and is often known as "The Wassail Song" (or under other titles). The problem is, all wassails seem to be called "The Wassail Song" by local singers. I use the Oxford Book of Carols title because that's as close as there is to a canonical reference.
To tell this wassail song from all the others (most if not all of which are lumped by Roud), consider the first verse:
Wassail and wassail all over the town
The cup it is white and the ale it is brown
The cup it is made of the good old ashen tree
And so is our beer of the best barley.
(The Gloucester Wassail is similar for the first three lines, but the fourth is "With our wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.")
The chorus varies; Sharp collected one version that has the refrain
To you a wassail
Aye, and joy come to our jolly wassail.
while another runs
For it's your wassail, and it's our wassail,
And it's joy be to you and a jolly wassail. - RBW
Also see Calennig, "The Wassail Song" (on Callenig, "A Gower Garland," Wild Goose Records WGS 299 CD (2000)) - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: ShH92

Something Got Hold of Me


DESCRIPTION: "When first I heard of the people who claimed This old-time religion was real," the singer concluded it was "just a weak mind," but chose to visit anyway -- though the Devil urged against it. Then "Something got hold of me" and the singer turned Christian
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 640, "Something Got Hold of Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4224
File: R640

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child


DESCRIPTION: "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child... a long way from home.... Sometimes I feel like I have no friend(s).... Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1899 (Barton, "Old Plantation Hymns")
KEYWORDS: religious home orphan nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 107, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 49, "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 62, "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 514, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"
Roud #10072
RECORDINGS:
Mildred Bailey, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (Vocalion 05209, 1939)
Rev. Gary Davis, "Motherless Children" (on GaryDavis02)
Harmonizing Four, "Motherless Child" (Vee Jay 854, rec. 1957)
Ruth Mallard, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Chile" (on BlackAmRel1)
Paul Robeson, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (Victor 20013, 1926)
Pete Seeger, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (on PeteSeeger23) (on PeteSeeger24)
Sister Nellie Lynn & the Southern Sons, "Motherless Child" (Haven 521, n.d.)
Lee Wiley, "Motherless Child" (Decca 132, 1934)
File: LxU107

Sometimes I'm in This Country


DESCRIPTION: "Sometimes I'm in this country, sometimes I'm in this town." The singer asks his love if she will be true; she replies that she has a new sweetheart. He considers drowning himself, but the water might "deceive" him; he decides to travel the wide world
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (recorded from Lee Monroe Presnell)
KEYWORDS: love rejection drowning travel
FOUND IN: US(SE)
ST RcSIITCo (Partial)
Roud #16400
RECORDINGS:
Lee Monroe Presnell, "Sometimes I'm in This Country" (on USWarnerColl01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Goodnight, Irene" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Willy, Poor Boy" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: The Warners claim that they could find out nothing about this song. Their informant Presnell thought it was a "sea song." And yet, the kinship to "Goodnight Irene" is clear. If Presnell is right about its sea origin, my guess is that it and "Goodnight Irene" split off from a common original sometime in the nineteenth century, and this went to sea and the other version went to Lead Belly. Since then, they have evolved enough that they can be considered separate songs. - RBW
File: RcSIITCo

Son Davie, Son Davie


See Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)

Son of a Gambolier (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a rambling rake of poverty, From Tippery town I came. 'Twas poverty compelled me first, To go out in the rain." The singer tells how hard life, (drink), and rambling has turned him old and unattractive. He can't help it; he's "the son of a gambolier"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: rambling drink poverty
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
BrownIII 369, "The Rambling Soldier" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 44, "The Son of a Gambolier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 78-80, "The Son of a Gambolier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 159-160, "The Song of a Gambolier" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 515-516, "Son of a Gun -- (Son of a Gambolier; Dunderbeck; and Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech)"
DT, SONGAMB*
Roud #2964
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech" (tune)
cf. "Dunderbeck" (tune)
cf. "Son of a Gambolier (II)"
cf. "Way Out in Idaho (I)" (tune)
cf. "The Pioneers" (tune)
cf. "According to the Act" (tune)
cf. "The Rakes of Poverty" (tune)
cf. "The Freight Handler's Strike" (tune)
cf. "The Man That Waters the Workers' Beer" (tune)
cf. "Joe Williams (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Coast Artillery Song (Jerry SIlverman, _Ballads & Songs of WWI_, 1997, pp. 198-199)
NOTES: The Brown text is clearly a prototype of the various "Son of a Gambolier" versions; in it, the lad is forced by poverty to join the army, and does not mention the gambolier. But so much of the rest is the same that it seems absurd to split the songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: San044

Son of a Gambolier (II)


DESCRIPTION: Bawdy, scatological, and sundry verses to the tune of "Son of a Gambolier/Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech." Often directed at the local arch-enemy (so, e.g. students of Stanford would lampoon California)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy parody nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 327-332, "Son of a Gambolier" (1 extended text, 1 tune); also pp. 332-336, "The Cardinals Be Damned" (3 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Son of a Gambolier (I)"
NOTES: This extended title is used for any song insulting another college which can use the "Gambolier" tune. Why? Because no two versions of the result are alike. - RBW
File: EM327

Son of a Seven, The


DESCRIPTION: "The son of a seven's a miser." The singer is a doctor. He gives "Mr Bobie the Censer" "a powder for sleeping ... he never waked again." The doctor pays his respects and is asked for his bill. He gives it reluctantly and doesn't cash it [but see note].
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: death money medicine doctor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 696, "The Son of a Seven" (1 text)
Roud #5885
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kill or Cure" (theme)
NOTES: This is a recitation and song. The song has a nonsense chorus which is taken to stand in for something that the singer values even more than money. Everything in his doctor shop has a price but "I never heed that when once I get hold of the [chorus:] Fal dree lal dreel tweedledum...." When he gives the family his bill for an extravagant list of medicine "about as long's my staff," instead of just sleeping powder, "I never heeded the bill when once I got hold of the [Chorus:] ...." Is this obscenity in disguise (as in "The Chandler's Wife" and "Jack the Jolly Tar" [Laws K40] and, possibly, "Jock Hamilton")? Greig's source, Bell Robertson, says it "was popular when her father was young, who used to say it was a nursery rhyme." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3696

Son Petit Jupon


See Marie Madelaine (Son Petit Jupon -- The Little Dress of Gray) (File: SBoA294)

Son, Come Tell It To Me


See Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)

Song About a Man-of-War, A


DESCRIPTION: The singer and his love part as he prepares to go to sea. The captain convinces him to come "on board of a man of war," where he is bound, abused, and fed horrid food. At last he throws himself overboard, swims to shore, and returns to his love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown, from a manuscript reportedly dated 1768)
KEYWORDS: sailor ship separation love reunion escape abuse
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 115, "A Song About a Man-of-War" (1 text)
Roud #661
NOTES: The text in Brown seems confused; in the first two verses, the sailor seems about to voluntarily leave his love, then a captain cons him to come aboard ship. Then, once aboard, he is treated as if he had been pressed.
The most likely explanation is that several songs have been jumbled together. But the key element -- the third, in which the sailor makes his escape -- is unknown to me, and the editors of Brown confess ignorance also. - RBW
File: BrII115

Song about the Fishing Banks


See The Eastern Light [Laws D11] (File: LD11)

Song and Dance


DESCRIPTION: "I just arrived in town today, I'm a stranger to you all. If you don't like this music I cain't stop and give you a call." The singer exchanges glances with the girls in the street, becomes involved with one, then heads out of town
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: dancing courting travel
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 289, "Song and Dance" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7821
File: R289

Song of a Lost Hunter, A (or, My Love Heneree)


See Young Hunting [Child 68] (File: C068)

Song of a Soldier


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

Song of Agincourt, The


See The Agincourt Carol (File: MEL51)

Song of All Nations


DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing you a song of all nations." An Irishman's made of "his shamrock so green and a jug of poteen." Similar lines for Scotchman, Englishman, Frenchman, Jew, ..., old men, old ladies, ..., mammys and daddys.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 80, "Song of All Nations" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrSNB180 (Partial)
Roud #2766
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "What's Little Babies Made Of?" (concept)
NOTES: The first part of this has rather the feeling of the educations songs one finds in Randolph and other sources ("States and Capitals," "The Presidents in Rhyme," things like that). But it doesn't really contain information, so this origin seems unlikely.
The second half, in which the song stops talking about various nationalities and turns to types of people (old men, old ladies, etc.) is similar in concept to "What Are Little Boys Made Of" and "What's Little Babies Made Of," but the actual "ingredients" are different enough that I think they qualify as separate songs. There may be a common inspiration somewhere in the distant past, to be sure. - RBW
File: CrSNB180

Song of All Songs


See Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles) (File: R515)

Song of an Old Time Jailbird


DESCRIPTION: "I went down town and got on a whiz... the polie nabbed me and put me in the pokey Way out in the middle of town." The singer complains of bad air, bad food, rats as big as whales, "clinches so old, they had to wear specs"; he vows to stay away from town
AUTHOR: (very possibly assembled by John Daniel Vass)
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (collected by Shellans from John Daniel Vass)
KEYWORDS: prison police food hardtimes floatingverses bug animal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shellans, pp. 72-73, "Song of an Old Time Jailbird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7324
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. most other prison songs, especially "The County Jail (I)" (theme of hard times in prison and the dangers posed by bugs)
NOTES: This is one of those songs where a lot of the lines seem familiar (though the bit about the clinches wearing spectacles an walking with canes seems unique). The combination, however, is unfamiliar. Shellans compares the tune to "Little Brown Jug." Given that he had the song from John Daniel Vass, who definitely fiddled with a lot of songs, I have to suspect that this is a Vass recreation.. - RBW
File: Shel072

Song of Dailey's Life-Boat, The


See The Little Clare Mary (Daily's Lifeboat) (File: BrII289)

Song of Joaquin (Wakken), The


DESCRIPTION: "I suppose you have heard of all the talking Of that noted horse thief, Joaquin; He was caught in Calaveras, And he couldn't stand the joke; So the rangers cut his head off." His robberies and 24 murders are listed; the capture of his gang is described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: murder police thief crime punishment
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Burt, pp. 195-196, "(The Song of Joaquin)" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 135, "Wakken" (1 short text)
ST GC135 (Partial)
Roud #3671
NOTES: The text in Gardner and Chickering, collected in Michigan but said to originate in California, was badly corrupt (as its title shows), and it is not possible to identify the villain. But it has enough in common with Burt's text that I'm fairly sure they're the same song.
The real question is, is this Joaquin in fact Joaquin Murieta (c. 1832-1853)? The song never uses his surname, but the details fit very well: Murieta, who came to California around 1849, was the victim of anti-Mexican prejudice, and swore vengeance -- which he carried out with brutal effect.
In 1853, California finally authorized a special company to catch him. They found him and his band in July, and Murieta was killed in the shoot-out. As the song tells, his head was cut off and preserved in alcohol so it could be shown off around the state. - RBW
File: GC135

Song of Marvels, The


See Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)

Song of Prosperous, The


DESCRIPTION: "We" United Irishmen burned Prosperous. "Our captain he forsook us," "Phil Mite the informer" betrayed us, Colonel Aylmer led us. "If Ireland had behaved like Wicklow, Wexford, and Kildare, The green flag would be hoisted through town and counterie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion betrayal revenge death Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 24, 1798 - "At Prosperous, County Kildare, a garrison commanded by Captain Swayne was massacred by the insurgents" (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 13, "The Song of Prosperous" (1 text)
Moylan 56, "The Song of Prosperous" (1 text)
NOTES: Zimmermann: "Philip Mite, one of the assailant party, denounced his leader, a Dr. Esmond, who was hanged. According to John Devoy, this was still the favourite '98 ballad around Naas in the middle of the nineteenth century...." - BS
The story of Prosperous tells us a lot about both Irish historians and about the history of Ireland. It was founded by Richard Brooke around 1780 as a cotton-spinning site. The settlement was on the Grand Canal a short distance north of Naas (in Kildare, west southwest of Dublin)
But English policy was, in effect, to crush any Irish industry which showed signs of competing with British. Tarriffs and other problems caused Prosperous to go bankrupt in 1786.
That much is mentioned in several pro-Irish histories. But they tend to ignore the massacre there. I found details only in Thomas Pakenham's pro-British The Year of Liberty (pp. 112-117). With buildings intact but little industry left, Prosperous made a good place for a garrison; in 1798, there were a couple of dozen Welsh dragoons and about 35 (mostly Catholic) militia from Cork commanded by (Protestant) Captain Swayne.
Swayne, it must be said, was a vicious persecutor of Catholics. His men were not. But, on the night of May 23/24, they were the target of one of the first attacks of the Kildare phase of the 1798 rebellion; reportedly some 500 men took part in the assualt. Pakenham reports that 38 of 57 defenders were killed; Swayne himself was shot then burned in a barrel of tar. (A peculiar outcome; see the fate of Father Murphy described in "Some Treat of David.")
The man at the head of the attacking forces was said to be Doctor John Esmonde, the first lieutenant of Richard Griffiths (commander of the Sallins yeoman cavalry, based nearby at Clane, and one of the senior officers in the area).
Griffith himself came under attack that night, but beat it off easily. He did not feel strong enough to attack Prosperous, and ended up retreating to Naas. A yeoman named Philip Mite soon arrived to tell Griffith of Esmonde's leading part in the massacre. Esmonde arrived shortly after, quite neatly dressed, but was taken into custody. He would eventually be hung, with his coat reversed to show he was a deserter (Pakenham, p. 124). It sounds as if Mite's was the only direct testimony against him, but it was enough. - RBW
File: Zimm013

Song of Repentance


DESCRIPTION: A rake repents the "time sadly wasted" drinking, bragging, seducing, and versifying. He has wasted his money on musicians. His creditors would see him in jail. He is poor, growing old, and alone. He warns others not to follow his example.
AUTHOR: unknown, translated by "Frank O'Conor" (1903-1966)
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: age poverty courting drink music rake
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 82, "Song of Repentance" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "My friend 'Frank O'Conor' (now Dr. Ml. O'Donovan) has given me leave to reprint his spirited translation of Eoghan Rua O'Sullivan's 'B'fhearr leigean doibh'." - BS
Frank O'Connor was an industrious translator of Irish poetry; Charles Sullivan's Ireland in Poetry includes ten of his renditions; the only author more heavily represented is Yeats. Much of his work was collected in Kings, Lords & Commons. He also wrote English short stories and some plays. He had quite a lively life, having been a member of the IRA in his youth. - RBW
File: OLcM082

Song of Solomon's Temple


See The Building of Solomon's Temple [Laws Q39] (File: LQ39)

Song of Song Titles


See Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles) (File: R515)

Song of Songs


See Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles) (File: R515)

Song of Temptation, The


DESCRIPTION: Her seduction attempt: birds sport, why shouldn't we? And we are born naked: why wear clothes? Don't quote Holy Writ. He cites David's fall and Sodom; she, Solomon's queens and concubines. He bids her "Begone you slut!" "Without ado they then withdrew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: seduction dialog nonballad religious Bible
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 45-46, "The Song of Temptation" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5333
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kissing's No Sin (I)" (theme of the antiquity of sexual relations)
NOTES: Both sides have some slight holes in their Biblical logic. David did indeed get into trouble for sexual impropriety (his affair with Bathsheba, told in 2 Samuel chapter 11, with the working-out of the consequences occupying chapters 12-20) -- but that was specificly adultery (Bathsheba was married to the Uriah the Hittite) and David compounded it by killing Uriah. Casual fornication is not nearly the same.
As for Sodom, there was a "great outcry" against them (Genesis 18:20), but fornication was hardly their problem; recall that, just before the destruction of the city, Lot offered his virgin daughters to the Sodomites to rape rather than having then assault his guests. But the Sodomites wanted the (male) guests, so their crime was seemingly homosexuality (Genesis 19:1-10).
But the example of Solomon is hardly a counter-argument; he had supposedly 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), but these wives "turned away his heart after other gods" (1 Kings 11:4), with the eventual result that his descendants lost control of most of Israel.
I'd call the debate pretty close to a draw. - RBW
File: TSF045

Song of the Croppy Boy


See The Croppy Boy (I) [Laws J14] (File: LJ14)

Song of the Emigrant, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer is "lying on a foreign shore and hear[ing] the birdies sing." His hair is "mixed wi' siller threads" He remembers a girl "in years lang, lang gane," who used to sing the old songs, which he names. He'll sing of Scotland while he can.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3); 19C (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(29b))
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration Scotland nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 532, "The Song of the Emigrant" (1 text)
Roud #6011
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(29b), "The Song of the Emigrant," Poets Box (Dundee), c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" and references there
File: GrD3532

Song of the Fishes (Blow Ye Winds Westerly)


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you bold fishermen, listen to me, I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea, Then blow ye winds westerly, westerly...." The behaviors of the various fish are described as they come forward and speak to the sailors
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: fishing bragging nonballad sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(NE) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Colcord, pp. 187-188, "The Boston Come-All-Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 145-147, "Song of the Fishes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 196-198, 209-210, "The Fishes" (4 texts, 4 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 153-154], "Blow the Man Down" (1 text, version D of "Blow the Man Down") [AbEd, pp. 164-165]
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 160-161, "The Fish of the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, p. 859, "Blow the Wind Westerly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 77, "The Old Ark" (1 text, 1 tune, with first verse and chorus from "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'" and additional verses from "this song")
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 129-131, "Song of the Fishes" (1 very full text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 496-498, "The Boston Come-All-Ye or The Fishes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 22, "The Fish of the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 557-558, "The Boston Come-All-Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 90, "Blow Ye Winds Westerly" (1 text)
DT, SONGFISH* SNGFISH2
Roud #472
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Come All You Bold Sailormen" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1029), "The King of the Sea" ("Up starts the herring the king of the sea"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 28(102), "The King of the Sea"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yea Ho, Little Fish" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Blow the Wind Southerly" (lyrics)
File: LxA496

Song of the Freedmen


DESCRIPTION: "We are coming from the cotton fields, We are coming from afar, We have left the plow... And we are going to war." The freed slaves describe all the cruelties they have left behind. Now, apparently, they are fighting for their freedom
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: slave freedom war Civilwar nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 240-242, "Song of the Freedmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 80-81, "Song of the Freedmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: SBoA240

Song of the Mayers


See May Day Carol (File: JRSF238)

Song of the Pinewoods


See Old Moke Pickin' on the Banjo (Song of the Pinewoods) (File: Be022)

Song of the Rebel Soldier, The


See The Good Old Rebel (The Song of the Rebel Soldier) (File: Wa193)

Song of the Robbers, The


DESCRIPTION: "You've heard this story often, you've heard it o'er and o'er...." "A tip had come to Morrison... That they would have a visit from the native bad G. Raines." The robber gang, though captured, kills Dr. Clark. They are sentenced to long prison terms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: robbery death crime punishment doctor
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 207-208, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Yes, the song calls the robber "G. Raines." An initial and a surname. Consistently. Not "Raines," and not a full name. That's typical of the horrid "poetry" of the piece. - RBW
File: Burt207

Song of the Seals, The


DESCRIPTION: "A sea maid sings on yonder reef, The spell-bound seals draw near." The song causes plowmen to cease plowing, milkmaids to cease milking; even animals listen. When she ceases, ordinary life begins again
AUTHOR: Words: Harold Boulton / Music: Granville Bantock
EARLIEST DATE: 1977
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 27, #3 (1979), p, 26-27, "The Song of the Sealsr" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This song had a very great fling of popularity a few years ago in pop folk circles. It is not, however, a folk song; it has never been found in tradition. I include it partly because it was so widely heard and partly because the poet, Harold Boullten, produced several other almost-folk songs, notable the Skye Boat Song (Over the Sea to Skye). RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: SOv27n3a

Song of the Southern Volunteers, The


DESCRIPTION: "I would not be a conscript a-hiding in the wood; I'd be a volunteer and do my country good. I wouldn't be alone (x3) to weep and moan." Similarly "I wouldn't be a lawyer... I'd rather be a soldier," etc. -- then perhaps shifting to a female soldier!
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar marriage patriotic soldier work
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hudson 123, pp. 263-264, "I Would Not Be Alone" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 221-223, "The Song of the Southern Volunteers" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NOTBEALN
Roud #4502
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Not Marry at All" (form)
NOTES: The extant texts of this song all appear rather messed up. Hudson's text hints at the original: An adaption of "I'll Not Marry at All" in which the singer proclaims his willingness to serve the south -- or, perhaps, a girl proclaims "I would not *marry* a conscript."
In fact, it's possible that both forms existed, then were mixed to produce Hudson's odd gender-bending text, with verses about a conscript, lawyer, doctor, lady/belle, nurse, farmer, and miller.
Scott's song it even more confused; it appears to be a mix of "I Would Not Be a Conscript" and "We Go Walking on the Green Grass" (the latter not to be confused with "Walking on the Green Grass"). It's too complicated for me to disentangle, so I tossed it here.
The original description I wrote of the song is as follows: "'I would not marry a conscript... I'd rather marry a volunteer and do my country good.... We go walking on the green grass, thus, thus, thus....' The girl would rather marry, or even be, a soldier boy, than wed someone who will not volunteer for the South." - RBW
File: SBoA221

Song of the Splintered Shillelagh


See Pat Murphy of the Irish Brigade (File: SCW22)

Song of the Tangier Gold Mines


DESCRIPTION: Gold mining begins May 1861 "back of Tangier and Pope's Harbour." Men leave their work, wives, and sweethearts "for the sake of 'Tangier gold"; ladies "go upon the diggings the miners for to see." Wish the miners success and hope they will be generous
AUTHOR: Catherine Hart (1861)
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: sex gold mining
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1860 - Opening of the Tangier Gold Mines (Source: Halifax Archives per Creighton-NovaScotia)
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 145, "Song of the Tangier Gold Mines" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS145 (Partial)
Roud #1841
NOTES: Tangier is on the coast of Nova Scotia, about 60 miles east of Halifax. - BS
Creighton notes that the mining in the Tangier area was extensive but not particularly profitable. But the song was written when the boom was just beginning, so hopes were high. - RBW
File: CrNS145

Song of the Temperance Union


See Rum By Gum (Temperance Union Song) (File: R317)

Song of the Times


See The Rigs of the Times (File: K237)

Song of the Volunteers, The


DESCRIPTION: "Hurrah! tis done. Our freedom's won. Hurrah for the Volunteers!" The Irish Volunteers, behind Grattan and Flood have broken "the Saxon yoke" Prayers, tears and words were vain "till flashed the swords Of the Irish Volunteers"
AUTHOR: Thomas Davis (1814-1845) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: early 1840s (_The Nation_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: pride rebellion Ireland political
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Moylan 1, "The Song of the Volunteers" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 236-237, "The Song of the Volunteers of 1782"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Cockade" (subject of the 1782 Volunteers)
cf. "The Shamrock Cockade" (subject of the 1782 Volunteers)
cf. "The Volunteers" (subject of the 1782 Volunteers)
NOTES: The Belfast Volunteers were formed in 1778 because of the threat of war between France and Britain. Similar groups formed, became politicized, and supported "those in favour of legislative independence from the British parliament and the removal of impediments to Irish commerce." Henry Grattan and Harry Flood supported this program in the Irish House of Commons. (Source: Moylan)
Hayes's title places the events in 1782. - BS
Moylan's description sums up the situation pretty well, I think. The Volunteers were not openly rebellious; they were mostly pro-British, and largely Protestant (though Terry Golway, For the Cause of Liberty, p. 51, notes that they included Catholics as well). By 1779, there were 40,000 volunteers (see Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, A History of Ireland, p. 186). Having shown that Ireland could field an army, a tide of nationalism, expressed in a "Buy Irish" movement, arose. The British, nervous about this, and remembering the recent example of the American rebels, responded by granting legislative independence in the form of Grattan's Parliament, for which see "Ireland's Glory." - RBW
File: Moyl001

Song of Welcome, A


DESCRIPTION: "Our noble Lord's come to the North To view his bonnie lands o' Forth ... Come bid him welcome." He fought the French in Egypt "wi 'Forty-twa' .... Our hero fought at Waterloo ... And bravely did the French subdue"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: return nonballad landlord
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #149, pp. 1-2, "A Song of Welcome" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 439, "A Song of Welcome" (1 text)
Roud #5953
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Our Noble Lord's Come to the North
Lord Saltoun
NOTES: Greig: "[Lord Saltoun] was grand-uncle to the present laird, and the song was made up on his home-coming after the battle of Waterloo."
GreigDuncan3: "The song as composed for Alexander George Fraser (1785-1853), sixteenth Lord Saltoun."
The references are to the Egyptian campaign (1798) and Waterloo (1815) against Napoleon. "Forty-twa" refers to the 42nd Highland Regiment, the Black Watch, which fought at Waterloo. See "The Bonnets o' Blue" and its references for more information about the Black Watch.
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Philorth (439) is at coordinate (h6,v0) on that map [roughly 37 miles N of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3439

Song on Courtship


See Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) AND The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: E098)

Song That Reached My Heart, The


DESCRIPTION: "I sat Őmidst a mighty throng within a palace grand, In a city far beyond the sea, in a distant foreign land," as a girl sings "Home, Sweet Home." The memories of home, and the song, affect him deeply
AUTHOR: Julian Jordan (1850-1927)
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad music
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 62-63, "The Song That Reached My Heart" (1 text)
Roud #3721
NOTES: This strikes me as pretty feeble, but it was the first of several fairly big hits for Julian Jordan; he published this in 1887, then "Light of My Life" in 1889, 'Sweet Charity" in 1890, an "Just As We Used To Do at Home" in 1893 (gleaned from Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America, pp. 604-607). He doesn't seem to have done much of note after that.
This business of a song inspiring a memory seems to have been a common idea in the late nineteenth century; Gussie L. Davis did it with "Sweet Refrain," which seems to treat "Old Folks at Home (Swanee River"" the way this song treats "Home! Sweet Home!" - RBW
File: Dean062C

Song Used When Holystoning the Decks


DESCRIPTION: Tune only, no text. According to Hugill, Russian seaman had few real shanties and apart from the songs quotes by Smith there is nothing in the literature.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 (L.A. Smith, _Music of the Waters_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage nonballad shanty worksong
FOUND IN: Russia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, p. 580, "Song Used When Holystoning the Decks" (1 tune only, no text-quoted from Smith)
File: Hugi580

Songs of Old Ireland


DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks back of the songs he heard as a youth. He asks to hear several such songs. He recalls fondly the days of his youth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: music youth nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H768, pp. 59-60, "Songs of Old Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13360
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles)" (theme)
File: HHH768

Sonny Hugh


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

Sons of Hibernia, The


DESCRIPTION: "Brave sons of Hibernia, your shamrocks display, For ever made sacred on St Patrick's day." The shamrock is "the badge of our saint," "a type of religion." It is "an emblem of charity, friendship, and love. May the blight of disunion no longer remain."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS:
FOUND IN: Ireland nonballad patriotic
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 150, "The Sons of Hibernia" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.10(184), "The Sons of Hibernial", unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "St Patrick's Day" (tune, per Broadside Bodleian 2806 b.10(184))
File: OCon150A

Sons of Levi (Knights of Malta)


DESCRIPTION: The singer calls all "Knights of (Malta)" to join with him to fight for good. "For we are the true-born Sons of Levi, None on earth can with us compare." The listeners are guided through the (Templar) ritual, and acts of God in Israel are recalled
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Grieg)
KEYWORDS: knight religious soldier
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
SHenry H146, pp. 180-181, "The Knights of Malta" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #155, p. 1, "The Sons of Levi" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 470, "The Sons of Levi" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 393-292, "The Knights of Malta" (1 text)
Fuson, p. 203, "The Sons of Levi" (1 text)
ST HHH146 (Full)
Roud #2430
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(156), "Sons of Levi, A New Masonic Song," unknown, c. 1880-1900
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Knight Templar's Dream" (style)
cf. "The Mason's Word - Keep Your Mouth Shut" (tune, per Greig)
NOTES: The Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, or Hospitallers for short, was founded during the Crusades, first as a refuge for pilgrims in need and then as a knightly order to defend the holy sites. After the last Crusader city, Acre, fell in 1291, they gradually retreated across the Mediterranean, settling in Malta in 1530.
Since that time, the Hospitallers have been known as the "Knights of Malta," even though they have been based in Rome since Napoleon pushed them out of Malta in 1798.
The Hospitallers had strong requirements of initates, which may be reflected in the song. The order was suppressed in England in early Protestant times, but re-formed in the nineteenth century. I doubt the song actually originates with the Hospitallers, though; they would not publish such a broadside. Rather, it appears to be a Masonic piece, though one with unusual popularity (perhaps because it has been mated with at least one very good tune).
Scriptural references in the song are numerous, e.g.
* Joshua crossing Jordan, taking twelve stones along, with the Ark of the Covenant, and ending in Gilgal: Joshua 3:12-4:24
* Noah planted the first garden: Properly the first vineyard; Gen. 9:20. The Bible calls Noah the first tiller of the soil in the same verse, but Cain is called the first tiller in Genesis 4:2
Moses planted Aaron's rod: Probably a reference to the budding rod in Numbers 17:1-11, though the next few lines refer to the crossing of the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds), Exodus 14:16-29.
Nowhere did Moses turn the Jordan into blood (Moses didn't even reach the banks of Jordan); he turned the Nile to blood in Exodus 7:18-24.
The "ark," of course, is not Noah's Ark but the Ark of the Covenant; the Sons of Levi were the holy tribe of Israel.
The lines in the chorus about the root and branch of David, and the morning star, are from Rev. 22:16 (I'd quibble a bit with the King James translation of the verse, but of course the song is based on the Bible as the Masons knew it).. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: HHH146

Sons of Liberty, The [Laws J13]


DESCRIPTION: The singer, an Irish soldier, is sent to America to fight the rebels. He lands in New York and soon finds himself fighting the Sons of Liberty. He grieves for those lost in battle, and praises the courage of Washington and his army
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1790 (Journal from the Dolphin)
KEYWORDS: war
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws J13, "The Sons of Liberty"
SharpAp 162, "The Sons of Liberty" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 146-148, "The Sons of Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, p. 170, "Jessie and Jimmie" (1 stanza, probably of this song though it could float, 1 tune)
DT 396, SONSLIB1* SONSLIB2*
Roud #596
File: LJ13

Soon as My Foot Struck Zion


DESCRIPTION: "Soon as my foot struck Zion, And de lamps all lit on de shore, Bud dis world a long farewell, And de lamps all lit on de shore." "You better walk study [steady?], Jesus a-listenin', Oh, you better walk study, Jesus died... Jesus a-listenin' all day long"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 636, "Soon As My Foot Struck Zion" (2 short texts from the same informant)
Roud #11934
File: Br3636

Soon I Will Be Done


DESCRIPTION: "Soon I will be done with the troubles of the world... Goin' home to God." "I want to meet my mother...." "I want to see my Jesus...." "No more weepin' and wailin'...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-FSNA 244, "Soon I Will Be Done" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LoF244

Soon in the Morning


See I Hope I'll Join the Band (Soon in the Morning) (File: R266)

Soon One Morning


DESCRIPTION: "Soon one morning death come creepin' in my room (x3) Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, what shall I do to be saved?... Death done been here, took my mother and gone... I'm so glad I got religion in time."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 103, "Soon One Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DETHCREP*
Roud #10069
RECORDINGS:
Delta Big Four, "I Know My Time Ain't Long" (Paramount 12948, 1930; on VocalQ2)
Golden Gate Quartet, "Hush" (Columbia 30136, 1948)
Blind Willie Johnson, "You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond" (Columbia 14530-D, 1930)
Rev. Willie Gresham & congregation, "Soon, One Mornin'" (on FolkVisions1)
Fred McDowell, "Soon One Mornin'" (on LomaxCD1703)
Wiseman Sextet, "Hush, Somebody's Calling My Name" (Paramount 12077, 1924)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hush
NOTES: Without a source for "You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond" I don't remember the lyrics well enough to know if it's the same song as "Soon One Morning," but I THINK it is. -PJS
File: LxU103

Sophie's First Trip, The


DESCRIPTION: "I suppose that you remember when the Sophie she was new, And Johnny Buddy Antie hoped to go mate on her crew." Antie requests the job, but is rejected. He apparently is hired in a lesser job, but mishandles the sails (?) and now will never be mate
AUTHOR: (redited to John Brown of Goderich, Ontario)
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (collected by Walton from Norman MacIvor)
KEYWORDS: sailor ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 96-97, "The Sophie's First Trip" (1 text, rather damaged)
File: WGM096

Sorghum Molasses


DESCRIPTION: A (hobo? Georgia soldier?) prepares his meal and declares, "All the world there's none surpasses Good cornbread and sorghum molasses." "He declares, "Georgia girls there's none surpasses, They are sweeter than sorghum molasses."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food soldier nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 386, "Sorghum Molasses" (1 text)
Roud #6684
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sorghum Syrup" (theme)
File: Br3386

Sorghum Syrup


DESCRIPTION: "I been to the North and I been to the South... And I've travelled all over Europe; Never saw the likes of sorghum syrup." The southerner describes courting the girls and all the uses of sorghum
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: food travel nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-FSNA 132, "Sorghum Syrup" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6684
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "Bye and Bye" (on Thieme06)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sorghum Molasses" (theme)
File: LoF132

Sorrowful Lamentation of Denis Mahony, The


DESCRIPTION: "Honest Denis Mahony that now lies in the clay ... his precious blood was freely spilt before the tithes he'd pay." Farmer Mahony is murdered. The Parishioners catch the murderer "and laid him on the ground" but "the tithes they paid without delay"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1830s (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: murder farming Ireland political lament
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 38, "The Sorrowful Lamentation of Denis Mahony" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War) and references there
NOTES: The complete title of Zimmermann's broadside is "The Sorrowful Lamentation of Denis Mahony, Who Lost His Life in the Parish of Inniscarra, in the County of Cork, on Account of the Tithes."
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) - BS
See "The Battle of Carrickshock" for more about the Tithe War, and the cross-references there for more songs on the topic. - RBW
File: Zimm038

Sorrowful Lamentation on the Recent Price Increases in Ales, Wines and Spirits, A


DESCRIPTION: Since Richie Ryan up'd porter to ten bob a pint, who could be blamed for buying "last night's left-overs." Father Matthew "tried to keep us off the booze " but the new price is more effective. This should improve the market for poteen.
AUTHOR: Jimmy Crowley (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OCanainn, pp. 40-41, "A Sorrowful Lamentation on the Recent Price Increases in Ales, Wines and Spirits" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OCan040

Sorry the Day I Was Married


DESCRIPTION: Married woman recounts the miseries of her life and wishes she hadn't married: "Sorry the day I was married, Sorry the day I was wed; It's Oh, if I only had tarried When I to the altar was led." She recalls all the good things she had before marriage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: marriage abuse humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, SRRYMRRY*
Roud #1561
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. "When I Was Young (II)" (theme)
cf. "Sporting Bachelors"
cf. "For Seven Long Years I've Been Married" (theme)
NOTES: Most "male" versions of this song go under the title of "The Sporting Bachelors," as they consist of the married man warning the bachelors of the abuse he suffers. His wife "swears [he's] obliged to maintain her" and lives well while "toss[ing him] bones" and leaving him dressed in rags. - RBW
File: WB2046

Soughrty Peaks, The


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

Souling Song


DESCRIPTION: "A soul, a soul, a soul-cake, Please good mistress a soul-cake, One for Peter and one for Paul And one for the Lord that made us all. An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry, Any good thing to make us merry." Once a year, singers beg for food, clothes, money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1891 (Broadwood); Simpson and Roud quote a seeming version from 1686
KEYWORDS: food begging religious
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #408, p. 194, "(A soul-cake, a soul-cake)"
DT, SOULCAKE* SOULCAK2*
Roud #304
NOTES: A song for All Souls Eve and Day (November 2 and the night preceding), when it was customary to give out food and alms on behalf of the dead.
According to Simpson and Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, entry on All Souls Day, Abbot Odilo of Cluny created the festival in the eleventh century to pray for the souls of those who had died. (Hence the Souling custom: In Catholic belief, prayer would get you out of purgatory, so travellers would pray in return for food -- almost a return to the professional mourners of Roman times). The original date was in February, but it was moved to November to align with All Saints Day.
The 1686 reference is to Aubrey's account of customs in Shropshire, when it was still customary to put out cakes for all passers-by on this day. These were called "soul cakes" or, according to W. C. Hazlitt's Dictionary of Faiths & Folklore, "soul-mass cakes."
I haven't seen anyone comment on the mentions of Peter and Paul in this song, but it may (or may not) be significant that Peter was the chief apostle to Jews, Paul to Gentiles (Galatians 2:8, etc.) - RBW
File: BGMG408

Sound Off (Cadence Count, Jody Chant)


DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Sound off, One, two, Sound off, Three, four." Verses, in marching cadence, can be about anything soldiers dislike, or their sex lives, but often involve the despicable Jody: "Jody's got my gal and gone, Left me here a-singing this song...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935
KEYWORDS: army betrayal separation bawdy
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray, pp. 394-398, "Sound Off" (3 texts, 1 tune); see also pp. 398-400, "Honey Babe" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 317, "Sound Off" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 167-176, "Jody" (4 texts, though three are from the same informant, 1 tune)
DT, SOUNDOFF* SOUNDOF2*
Roud #10398
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Swing Cadence
The Airborne Chant
Duckworth Chant
NOTES: If one is only studying origins, this would probably not be considered one song. However, cadence chants so freely exchange verses, and can so readily shift from clean to bawdy and back, that I see no point in trying to separate any which use the same meter.
It is interesting to see the chants being taken over in Texas prisons. Here, the cadence count ("Sound off, one two...") is replaced by a simple "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" -- but the ever-troublesome Jody is still around. Jackson explains "Jody" as a worn down form of "Joe the," i. e. "Joe the Grinder."
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LoF317

Sounding Calls


DESCRIPTION: This barely qualifies as a song, as there are only three notes, repeated in the same order with slight variation. There is no plot; the depth of the river is taken in order to avoid running aground. "Half twain, quarter twain, mark twain."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: river nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 572, "Mississippi Sounding Call" (1 text, 1 tune)
MWheeler, pp. 59-66, "Soundings at Memphis"; "Soundings from Uncle Mac"; Soundings from Tee Collins" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
NOTES: The terminology used in these song is explained in Botkin's notes, and more fully in sources such as Wheeler.
In simplest form, the measurements are in fathoms, and additive -- so, e.g. "half twain" is "half a fathom plus two fathoms," i.e. 15 feet; "quarter twain:" "quarter fathom plus two fathoms," i.e. 13.5 feet; "mark twain": two fathoms exactly, i.e. 12 feet.
Distances less than "quarter less twain" (10.5 feet) are given in feet, and distances over a certain limit (usually Mark Four, i.e. four fathoms=24 feet) are described as "no bottom."
The various "songs" combined under this heading are, of course, not ballads, and not even true folk tunes, nor do they constitute a single song. The tunes are simple, and almost all the words are simply the numbers for depths (though in fact the various singers had their own methods of calling the numbers -- a valuable skill if it helped keep the listeners alert). But collectively these chants represent a significant part of river culture, so I've included them. - RBW
File: BMRF572

Soup Supper in Clattice Harbour


DESCRIPTION: The singer has not recently attended the local "times" but goes to this one on November 18, held at the church. He pays the five cents admission and enjoys the soup supper, dancing till four or five, and another supper after that.
AUTHOR: Peter Leonard
EARLIEST DATE: 1983 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: dancing food party
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 99, "Soup Supper in Clattice Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
Anita Best, "The Soup Supper in Clattice Harbour" (on NFABest01)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Buns of Daily Bread
File: LeVe099

Sour-Milk Cairt, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a maid and offers to drive her to Glasgow on his milk cart. On the way he proposes and she agrees. Before next term they plan to marry. When he suggests a coach for the wedding she says to save their silver and use the milk cart.
AUTHOR: Thomas Johnstone (source: GreigDuncan5)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: courting love wedding farming food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 956, "The Sour-Milk Cairt" (1 text)
Roud #6336
NOTES: The "term" reference marks the them as six-month farm employees. For more on terms see "The Hiring Fair at Hamiltonsbawn." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD5956

Sourwood Mountain


DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with words; young man wants his true love, but she is coy. Versions often contain a variety of floating or spontaneous verses. First stanza may begin, "Chickens crowing on Sourwood Mountain...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (collected by Olive Dame Campbell); +1909 (JAFL22)
KEYWORDS: courting love rejection nonballad playparty
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Randolph 417, "Sourwood Mountain" (4 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 346-347, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 417A)
BrownIII 251, "Sourwood Mountain" (7 texts plus an excerpt and 3 fragments)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 91 "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 170-171, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text)
Cambiaire, p. 11, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 125, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune); 320-321, "I Got a Gal at the Head of the Holler" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 216, "Sourwood Mountain" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 24, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 276-277, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune, composite)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 897-898, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 148-149, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 257-258, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 35, "Sourwood Mountain" (1 text)
DT, SOURWOOD
Roud #754
RECORDINGS:
Coleman & Harper "Sourwood Mountain" (Perfect 12751, 1931) (Oriole 8095, 1935)
Fruit Jar Guzzlers, "Sourwood Mountain" (on CrowTold01)
I. G. Greer & Mrs. I. G. Greer, "Sourwood Mountain" (AFS; on LC12)
The Hillbillies, "Sourwood Mountain" (Vocalion 5022, c. 1926)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers "I've Got a Woman on Sourwood Mountain" (OKeh 45171, 1927)
Kessinger Brothers, "Sourwood Mountain" (Brunswick 308, c. 1929)
Bradley Kincaid ,"Sourwood Mountain" (Gennett 6417/Silvertone 8220, 1928) (Brunswick 420, 1930) (Conqueror 8090, 1933) (one of these is on CrowTold02, but it's not clear which)
Clayton McMichen, "Sourwood Mountain [part of instrumental medley] (Decca 2649, 1939)
Land Norris, "Dogwood Mountain" (OKeh 40433, 1925)
Fiddlin' Powers & Family, "Sour Wood Mountains" (Victor 19448, 1924) (Edison 51789/5123, 1925)
Hobart Smith, "Sourwood Mountain" [instrumental] (on LomaxCD1702)
Kilby Snow, "Sourwood Mountain" (on KSnow1)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Sourwood Mountain" (Victor 20235, 1926)
Stove Pipe No. 1 [pseud. for Sam Jones], "Cripple Creek & Sourwood Mountain" (Columbia 201-D, 1924)
Uncle "Am" Stuart, "Sourwood Mountain" [instrumental] (Vocalion 15840, 1924)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Sourwood Mountain" (Columbia 245-D, 1924)
Taylor's Kentucky Boys, "Sourwood Mountain" (on BefBlues3)
The Vagabonds, "Sourwood Mountain" (Bluebird B-5335, 1934)
Wade Ward, "Sourwood Mountain" [instrumental] (on Holcomb-Ward1); "Sourwood Mountain" [instrumental] (on GraysonCarroll1)
Henry Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners, "Sourwood Mountain" (OKeh 7005, 1924)
NOTES: The Baptist church disapproved of dancing, but allowed playparties (dances with sung tunes instead of instrumental music) - PJS
It should be noted that this is primarily a fiddle tune; it's listed because it occasionally turns up with words. - RBW
File: R417

Souters' Feast, The


DESCRIPTION: "The souters [shoemakers] they had a feast ... Souters cam' frae far and near." One got drunk and began to shit leather, lasts, knives and broken glass. And when he seemed finished "he spued a muckle beatin' stane"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink food bawdy humorous scatological clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig 12, pp. 1-2, "The Souters' Feast" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 629, "The Souters' Feast" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #6072
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Tanty Eerie Orum
NOTES: Greig #42: "In rustic song the Shoemaker becomes the Souter, and as such, is usually treated in humorous style. 'The Souters' Feast' (Art XII) may be recalled as a wholesale example of this tendency to poke fun at the craft." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD3629

South Australia (I)


DESCRIPTION: The sailor reports, "South Australia's where I was born." Often used as a shanty, with chorus, "Heave away, heave away... we're bound for south Australia." Often he speaks of leaving his Australian girl behind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor separation
FOUND IN: US(MA) Australia
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Doerflinger, p. 71, "South Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 90, "Rolling King" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 33-35, "South Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 193-195, "Rolling King," "South Australia" (3 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 150-151]
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 58-59, "South Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 2-4, "Bound for South Australia" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Darling-NAS, pp. 315-316, "South Australia" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 85, "South Australia" (1 text)
DT, SOAUSTRL*
Roud #325
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cape Cod Girls" (floating lyrics, tune, meter, plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Ruler King
NOTES: There is no true dividing line between this song and "Cape Cod Girls"; they merge into each other. However, the difference in local color and focus is enough that they should be separated. The problem is classifying the intermediate versions.... - RBW
A modern verse: "In South Australia Skylab fell..., 15 billion shot to hell..." - SL
File: Doe071

South Australia (II)


See Cape Cod Girls (File: LoF023)

South Carolina State


DESCRIPTION: The singer enlists for gold to fight "in the northern wars." He deserts, is caught, jailed "in South Carolina State," and sentenced to be hung. He asks that the news be sent to his father, mother, and friends, and that he be buried next to his sister
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: desertion war execution soldier father mother burial punishment
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 100, "South Carolina State" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lehr/Best: "According to [the singer] this song is about a Newfoundlander who went to fight in the war for American independence." - BS
File: LeBe100

South Down Militia


DESCRIPTION: Famous warriors are named: King's Guards and Scots Greys, Russians and Prussians, Julius Caesar and Napoleon, "but the South Down Militia is the terror of the land." Their appearance throws the Kaiser and "Krugar" into despair and makes Victoria gush.
AUTHOR: Col. R.H. Wallace (source:Graham)
EARLIEST DATE: c.1895 (Graham)
KEYWORDS: army war humorous nonballad talltale Napoleon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1899-1902 - Boer War
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
OLochlainn 90 note, "South Down Militia" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Graham, p. 13, "The Royal South Down Militia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hammond-Belfast, pp. 40-41, "The South Down Militia" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SOUTHDWN*
NOTES: The description is from the text at South Down Defenders Flute Band Newry site "Words & Music of Traditional Ulster Songs." - BS
I find myself wondering if there are not two different phases of this song. Its inclusion in Graham would seem to imply a date prior to 1895.
And yet, the references to Kruger, the Kaiser, and Victoria date the version of the song containing them fairly precisely: The Jameson Raid (beginning in late December of 1895) provoked the "Kruger Telegram," in which Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany offered his friendship to Boer president Kruger (though the support turned out to be only moral). The (second) Boer War began in 1899, and ended in 1902; Victoria died in 1901.
The Boer War started with a series of bad British defeats, forcing them to bring in additional forces from all over the Empire. Naturally this included a lot of Irish troops. - RBW
File: OLoc090N

South Ythsie


DESCRIPTION: Forsay fees to Johnnie Gray and names the crew. He seems to like the work well enough but at term day "I'll tak' my budgets on my back, Farewell to Johnnie Gray."
AUTHOR: William Forsyth (source: Greig #19, p. 2)
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3); reportedly written in 1851
KEYWORDS: farming worker moniker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #21, pp. 2-3, "South Ythsie" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 355, "South Ythsie" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5758
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Little Ythsie
NOTES: Notes to IRClare01: "A budget is a bag or knapsack used for carrying tools."
From Peter A Hall, "Farm Life and the Farm Songs," pp. xxi-xxxi in GreigDuncan3: "The time between hirings was, in the mid nineteenth century North-East, predominantly six months ['terms'] and the hiring was generally called feeing."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; South Ythsie (355) is at coordinate (h3,v9) on that map [roughly 17 miles N of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3355

Southerly Wind


DESCRIPTION: Round: "Oh, it's a southerly wind and a cloudy sky, Proclaim it a hunting/sailing morning. Before the sun rises away we'll fly... Hark, hark , forward."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: ship sports
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Doerflinger, pp. 174-175, "Southerly Wind" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #9442
File: Doe174

Southern Blues, The


DESCRIPTION: "When I got up this mornin', I heard the old Southern whistle blow (x2), Then I was thinkin' 'bout my baby, Lord, I sure did want to go." The singer watches "the Southern cross the Dog." The singer wonders which train his baby took; he will try Georgia
AUTHOR: Big Bill Broonzy (at least in part)
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, Big Bill Broonzy)
KEYWORDS: train separation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 441-443, "The Southern Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Big Bill Broonzy, "The Southern Blues" (Bluebird B-5998/B-6964, 1935)
NOTES: This is one of those who-knows-how-to-file-it blues. The recorded form is Broonzy's, but there are older elements, including especially the line "where the Southern crosses the Dog," the chief basis for Cohen's inclusion of the song. W. C. Handy encountered this line from a street singer around 1903, and it helped inspire his blues career.
There is a recording by W. T. Narmour and S. W. Smith, "Where The Southern Crosses The Dog" (OKeh 45480); I don't know what its relation is to either this song or the one Handy heard. - RBW
File: LSRai443

Southern Cross (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The Southern Cross goes to the Gulf in March to hunt seals. They are successful in the hunt but on their return are lost in a storm. The SS Kyle, sent off to search, could find nothing. The singer concludes by hoping that all are in Heaven if never found.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: hunting storm ship wreck disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Mar 31, 1914 - Last sighting of the Southern Cross
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 139, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 973-974, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 77, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 57, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 54-55, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 80, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 99-100, "Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doy57 (Partial)
Roud #2796
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Southern Cross (II)" (subject)
NOTES: Horace Beck in his book Folklore and the Sea (Mystic Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1985), p. 208 gives a brief account of sealing disasters in Newfoundland that he obtained from George A. England, "Vikings of the Ice" (London, 1924) pp. 54-59. - SH
Greenleaf/Mansfield says that 170 men were lost; "no survivor or wreckage has ever been found."
Southern Cross last sighted by the Portia March 31, 1914 off Cape Race en route from Channel, southwest Newfoundland, to Harbour Grace (on the far side of Conception Bay from St John's); cargo about 20,000 seals; Captain George Clark (Northern Shipwrecks Database).
A must-read article on the ballad and its history, complete with a map, is available online in the archives of the site for the Canadian Journal for Traditional Music. Specifically, Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, vol 10, 1982, "The Southern Cross: A Case Study in the Ballad as History" by T.B. Rogers.
The article is good not only for its exhaustive discussion of this ballad but for the light it sheds on ballad-making in Newfoundland (at least). - BS
This song is item dD36 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Doy57

Southern Cross (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The Southern Cross sails out through the ice and is last sighted by the Portia off Cape St Mary's sailing home.
AUTHOR: unknbown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: hunting storm ship wreck disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Mar 31, 1914 - Last sighting of the Southern Cross
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 101, "The Southern Cross" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Southern Cross (I)" (subject)
NOTES: The Southern Cross last sighted by SS Portia on March 31, 1914 sailing home to St John's with a cargo of seals. Believed "foundered in blizzard" with a loss of about 172 men. (Lehr/Best, Northern Shipwrecks Database)
Lehr/Best: see "The Newfoundland Disaster" for another ballad about another wreck in the same storm. "This was a particularly sad and tragic time for Newfoundland... leaving a total of about 252 dead in one month." - BS
File: LeBe101

Southern Encampment, The


DESCRIPTION: "As I rambled out one evening in the pleasant month of June, I spied an encampment by the light of the moon." The southern girl reports on the soldiers' disdain for the northerners; despite their poor living conditions, she and they expect victory
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar patriotic soldier
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 223, "The Southern Encampment" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 207-208, "The Southern Encampment" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 223)
Roud #7704
File: R223

Southern Girl's Reply, The (True to the Gray)


DESCRIPTION: "I cannot listen to your words, The land's too far and wide, Go seek some happy northern girl To be your loving bride." The southern girl tells how her youngest brother and lover were slain in the Civil War; she will not marry one who fought to kill them
AUTHOR: Original words ("True to the Gray") by Pearl Rivers
EARLIEST DATE: 1941
KEYWORDS: Civilwar courting rejection
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Warner 156, "The Southern Girl's Reply" (1 collected text plus the original Rivers poem, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 251-252, "The Southern Girl's Reply" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, STHREPLY*
Roud #7484
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: The "Fitzhugh Lee" referred to in the first stanza was Robert E. Lee's nephew, and a cavalry officer. One of the senior generals under Jeb Stuart, he eventually commanded what remained of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia after Stuart's death and Wade Hampton's transfer. - RBW
File: Wa156

Southern Jack, A


DESCRIPTION: "I got a southern jack [train engine], I got a southern jack, First thing yi (sic.) do shovel in the coal, Next thing yi do watch the drivers roll. I got a southern jack, I got a southern jack; All aboard on the southern jack!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: train
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 239, "A Southern Jack" (1 short text)
Roud #6452
File: Br3239

Southern Ladies


DESCRIPTION: Capstan shanty, Negro origin. "What will you fetch your Julia? Way-ay-ay-ay! What will you fetch your Julia? She's a Southern lady all the day." Meter changes from 2/2 to 3/2 throughout.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (JFSS volume 5)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, p.395, "Southern Ladies" (1 short text, 1 tune-quoted from a shanty which Cecil Sharp gave in volume 5 of the Journal of the Folk Song Society) [AbEd, p. 300]
Roud #9173
File: Hugi395

Southern Oath, The


DESCRIPTION: "By the cross upon our banner, Glory to our Southern skies, We have sworn, a band of brothers, Free to live or free to die." Southrons will fight northern "hirelings," and protect southern "fair-haired daughters" from "your fierce and ruffian chief"
AUTHOR: Rosa Vertner Jeffrey?
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Southern Poems of the War)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 359-360. "The Southern Oath" (1 text)
Roud #7766
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Confederate Oath
File: Beld359

Southern Shore Queen


DESCRIPTION: "It's concerning the harbour of Cape Broyle ... we will call it The Southern Shore Queen"; "Now Cape Broyle is famed for its beauty." The song lists the attributes of beautiful Cape Broyle
AUTHOR: almost certainly Gertrude Carew Cahill
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: pride lyric nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Doyle3, p. 55, "Southern Shore Queen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 47, "Southern Shore Queen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7312
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Southern Shore Queen" (on NFOBlondahl04)
NOTES: Cape Broyle is on the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula, about 40 miles south of St John's - BS
In 2007, Andrea Tarvin, a relative of the author, wrote to me with background on the song. I quote her letter: "The song... was originally recorded by Omar Blondahl. The song was written by Gertrude Carew Cahill. She would have been the daughter of Arthur Carew from Shore's Cove,ĘCape Broyle, who was my great grandmother's brother. She died here in St. John's about three years ago and before she died they had a birthday party for her in St. Patricks Mercy Home at a which time they printed off the words to this song and passed it around for everyone to sing. The Downhomer...a local publication....had an article published about four to five years ago that read "Southern Shore Queen Mystery Solved." In this article they showed that Gertrude Carew Cahill wrote this song...and she played the accordian as well.... Everyone on the Southern Shore is in agreement that Gertrude wrote this song." - RBW
File: Doyl3055

Southern Soldier Boy, The (Barbro Buck)


DESCRIPTION: "Barbro Buck is my sweetheart's name, He's off to the wars and gone, He's fighting for his Nannie dear, His sword is buckled on. He's fighting for his own true love, He is my only joy, He is the darling of my heart, My southern soldier boy."
AUTHOR: Words: Captain G.W. Alexander
EARLIEST DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: love separation Civilwar
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 238, "Barbro Buck" (1 text)
SharpAp 196, "Barbara Buck" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, p. 216, "The Southern Soldier Boy" (1 text)
ST R238 (Full)
Roud #3428
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boy with the Auburn Hair" (tune)
NOTES: In the original Confederate version of this song, the hero's name is "Bob Roebuck." Tradition, however, has fairly consistently perverted this into "Barbro Buck."
The song was made popular by its appearance in the play "The Virginia Cavalier," a popular hit in the Richmond theatre. The original version was patriotic and political; this has faded from many of the traditional versions.
There are other pieces called "The Southern Soldier Boy" (e.g. by Father Ryan); I've yet to see one with the power of this one. - RBW
File: R238

Southern Wagon, The (Confederate)


DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye sons of freedom and join our Southern band; we're going to fight the Yankees and drive them from our land." The song describes the state of the Confederate government and declares "The South is our wagon, we'll all have a ride."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1889 (The Civil War in Song and Story)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar political
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 374, "The Southern Wagon" (1 text plus a fragment)
Hudson 121, p. 262, "Wait for the Wagon" (1 short text)
Roud #3716
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wait for the Wagon" (tune) and references there.
cf. "The Southern Wagon (Union)"
cf. "I Picked My Banjo Too" (lyrics, themes)
NOTES: This song, or at least Brown's version, has historical problems. (Hudson's version, of only two stanzas and chorus, is hardly significant.) It refers to Jeff(erson Davis) and "(Alexander) Stephens by his side," which is accurate enough (except that the two quickly fell out), and Beauregard, while never the senior Southern general (in fact, he was #5), was certainly the best-known early in the war.
But there was never a date when the Confederacy had exactly the states listed. The author says (South) Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi are in (forgetting Louisiana), but "Missouri, North Carolina, and Arkansas are slow... There's old Kentucky, Maryland, each hasn't made up their mind."
Note that Virginia is not mentioned, and that Tennessee (seceeded June 8, 1861) is "in" when Arkansas (May 6) is still "out." It could be argued that Tennessee ratified an agreement with the South before Arkansas, but both states saw their governors turn south immediately after Sumter and broke free of the Union soon after.
Plus, Missouri, like Kentucky and Maryland, would not join the Confederacy (except in their dreams and the stars on their battle flag), though Missouri in particular did supply partisan troops to the south. - RBW
File: Br3374

Southern Wagon, The (Union)


DESCRIPTION: "Jeff Davis built a wagon and on it put his name, And Beauregard was driver of Secession's ugly (frame/fame)." The song details the slow but steady progress of the Union forces.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar parody
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 21, 1862 - First Battle of Bull Run. Mentioned out of order in Belden's version, but Lincoln and General Winfield Scott appointed George B. McClellan commander of the Army of the Potomac the day after the battle ("they put in all new spokes")
Sep 4, 1861 - Occupation of Columbus, Kentucky by forces under Leonidas K. Polk ("Bishop Polk"). Kentucky had tried to declare neutrality; both sides prepared to occupy it once the neutrality was broken. Polk went in first, but the Union had more forces in the area, and gained the bulk of the state. And Polk's invasion helped push the legislature to declare for the Union
Jan 19, 1862 - Battle of Logan Cross Roads (also called Mill Springs, as in the song). A small battle by later standards, but the first major union victory of the war. Federal forces under George H. Thomas beat forces under Zollicoffer, securing much of Kentucky and opening a path into Tennessee
Feb 16, 1862 - Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. This, combined with his capture of Fort Henry on the Tennessee (Feb. 6) blows a hole in the Confederate position in Kentucky and forces Confederate commander Albert Sidney Johnston to evacuate Bowling Green. This was the famous "Unconditional Surrender" incident: After the two senior officers at Donelson fled, the #3, Simon Bolivar Buckner, bit the bullet and accepted Grant's unconditional terms
Apr 25, 1862 - Union forces under Farragut capture New Orleans
Jun 6, 1862 - Naval battle of Memphis clears the path for Union occupation of that city
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Belden, pp. 364-366, "The Southern Wagon" (1 text)
JHCox 70, "Jeff Davis" (1 fragmentary text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Southern Wagon" (source notes only)
Roud #3716
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wait for the Wagon" (tune) and references there.
cf. "The Southern Wagon (Confederate)"
NOTES: Cox lists this as a parody of the "favorite Confederate song" "The Southern Wagon." A Confederate song it may be, but hardly a favorite; I've found no evidence of traditional versions, and the single stanza Cox quotes seems to be the only traditional portion of the parody.
What is interesting is that Belden, too, has the *union* form, and a full version. - RBW
File: JHCox070

Sovay, Sovay


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

Sovay, the Female Highwayman


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

Sow Pig, The


DESCRIPTION: John Walker takes the "Lough Swilly Line" to Derry and buys a pig. He takes her to Marshall's to be serviced. A great crowd watches the heroic proceedings. "But all ended well and for in a short time The sow she produced a fine litter of nine"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: sex humorous moniker animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 66, "The Sow Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: McBride: "This song was composed locally in the Burnfoot area of Inishowen at the beginning of the century." - BS
File: McB1066

Sow Took the Measles, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer founds his property on a sow. When the sow takes the measles and dies, he makes a saddle of her hide, a thimble of her nose, a whip of her tail, pickles and/or glue of her feet, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: animal talltale technology disease
FOUND IN: US(Ap,NE,So,SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 412, "The Measles in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 177, "My Old Sow's Nose" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 253-255, "The Old Sow Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 185, "The Old Sow" (1 text, in which the old sow "died in the winter last spring")
Lomax-FSNA 15, "The Sow Took the Measles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 405, "The Sow Took The Measles" (1 text)
DT, SOWMEASL*
Roud #17759
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Red Herring" (theme)
File: LoF015

Sow's Tail to Geordie, The


DESCRIPTION: Geordie [George I] meets a sow. At every action Geordie takes she makes a fool of him and shows him her tail: he wears turnips on his head, she pulls them down; he invites her to dance, she flaunts her buttocks; she beats him at a race, and so on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: humorous political Jacobites animal food dancing racing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hogg1 55, "The Sow's Tail to Geordie" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 121, "The Soo's Tail to Geordie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #5781
NOTES: Hogg1: "All this gibing and fun about the sow and Geordie, that runs through so many of the songs of that period, without explanation must appear rather inexplicable; but from whatever cause it may have originated, it is evident that the less that is said about it the better."
GreigDuncan1: "... 'the soo' being one of George I's mistresses, Madame Schulemberg, Duchess of Kendal, or Madame Kilmausegge, Countess of Darlington - Hogg apparently thinks the latter." - BS
I incline the same way. Schulemberg was so thin that she was called "the maypole"; Kilmausegge was so heavy that she was called "the goose" or "the elephant." For more about this two, see e.g. the notes to "Came Ye O'er Frae France." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1121

Sow's Triumph Over the Peelers, The


DESCRIPTION: A Ballaconnell sow wrestles a police sergeant to the street. The army, called for help, is stopped by two goats. The sergeant tries to take the goats to Cavan jail. The pig's ire is renewed. With the goats, she drives the sergeant into hiding
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1881 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.10(138))
KEYWORDS: humorous political animal police soldier
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.10(138), "The Sow's Triumph Over the Peelers" ("Come pray attention for a while, I'll tell you a jest I do protest"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1849-1880
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The World Turned Upside Down" (tune, per broadside Bodleian 2806 b.10(138))
cf. "The Peeler and the Goat" (theme)
cf. "The Monegran Pig Hunt" (theme)
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 215: "The success of ['The Peeler and the Goat'] inspired other texts: 'The Peeler and the Sow' (set in County Cavan, the goat also appearing in that ballad) and 'The Dog's Victory on the Peeler' (set in Kilkenny), both of them very inferior to O'Ryan's satire." The present broadside seems compounded from the sow and dog versions described by Zimmermann. - BS
File: BrdSTOtP

Sowens for Sap at Oor New Tap


DESCRIPTION: "The foremost man o' oor New Tap, He works a stallion fine. The Lion they do call him... The little one that goes to him She's swift and spunky too. Sowens for sap at oor New Tap, Ye'll find it winna do." The singer describes horses and men of the farm
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work nonballad moniker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #92, pp. 1-2, "Sowens for Sap" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 400, "Sowens for Sap" (1 text)
Ord, p. 251, "Sowens for Sap" (1 text)
Roud #5575
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Parks o' Keltie" (tune, per Greig)
File: Ord251

Sowing on the Mountain


DESCRIPTION: "Sowing on the mountain, reaping in the valley (x3), You're gonna reap just what you so." "God gave Noah the rainbow sign...." "Won't be water, but fire next time."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Darling-NAS, pp. 263-264, "Sowing on the Mountain" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 363, "Sowing on the Mountain" (1 text)
DT, SOWNGMTN
Roud #11554
RECORDINGS:
(Victor 23585, 1931; Bluebird B-5468, 1934; Montgomery Ward M-4744, 1935)
A. P. Carter Camily, "Sow 'em on the Mountain" (Acme 997, n.d. but probably 1950s)
Coon Creek Girls, "Sowing on the Mountain" (Vocalion 04278, 1938)
File: FSWB363

Soy Pobre Vaquero


See Poor Lonesome Cowboy (File: San273)

Spailpin Fanac


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Singer, a spalpeen bids farewell to Ireland; on his last job 12 women contended for him. He was happy at first, then found he was being cheated of his pay. He boasts that women like him, and compliments a young woman going down the road
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recording, Joe Heaney)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Singer, a spalpeen (itinerant agricultural laborer) bids farewell to Ireland; on his last job 12 women contended for him. He was happy at first, then found he was being cheated of his pay. He boasts that women like him, and compliments a young woman going down the road; "The tailor that took her measure/I am sure that he was in love with her/For he took her measure up from the ground/And high above her waist/And they tell me that's the reason/She is always laughing."
KEYWORDS: courting sex bragging emigration rambling travel beauty farming foreignlanguage work worker migrant
FOUND IN: Ireland
RECORDINGS:
Joe Heaney, "Spailpin Fanac" (on Pubs1)
NOTES: In Ireland young workers were often hired at autumn hiring fairs for six months, the women as dairy maids or kitchen maids, the men as farm servants. At the end of the term, often the women would marry and settle, while the men travelled to the next hiring fair or hit the road as itinerant workers, known as "spalpeens." - PJS
File: RcSpaiFa

Spailpin Fanach, An (The Migrant Labourer)


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Farewell to my dear island and the boys I left at home. I enlisted in the army; it was a mistake. One wonderful day I could persuade any woman that black was white. "Twelve envious women compete for the benefit of my love"; even the old hag.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (recording, Sean Mac Donnchadha)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage emigration travel drink army nonballad rake soldier worker
FOUND IN: Ireland
RECORDINGS:
Sean Mac Donnchadha, "An Spailpin Fanach" (on Voice20)
NOTES: The description is from the translation of the text in the notes to Voice20. - BS
File: RcASpaFa

Spailpin Fanach, An (The Rover)


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer had been a rover for hire by farmers at fairs. Now, instead, he will carry the Pike under the French banner. He is leaving a girl behind in Kerry. When the French arrive the yeomen and English will be forced to fly.
AUTHOR: George Sigerson (1836-1925) (translator )(source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1897 (Sigerson's _Bards of the Gael and Gall_, according to Moylan; source for date: "George Sigerson" on Ireland's Millenia site)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage rebellion England France Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 131, "Spailpin Fanach, An" (1 text Gaelic, 1 tune); 132, "The Rover" (1 text English)
NOTES: The description is from the translation by George Sigerson as Moylan 132, "The Rover."
For more on the French involvement in the Rebellion of 1798 see, for example, the notes to "The Men of the West" and "The Shan Van Voght" - BS
File: Moyl131

Spanish Captain, The


DESCRIPTION: A Spanish captain and his beautiful wife and daughter, bound for Newfoundland, are killed in a shipwreck near Cape Spear. The singer seems to have been one of the crew and laments the loss of the captain and his family.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: wreck death lament family father mother
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 137, "The Spanish Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 38-39, "The Spanish Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 102, "The Spanish Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 87-88, "The Spanish Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4079
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best, "The Spanish Captain" (on NFABest01)
Omar Blondahl, "The Spanish Captain" (on NFOBlondahl01)
NOTES: There is a formulaic introduction to the song where the Muses are called upon to help the singer and the public is promised not to be delayed too much in the telling. Cape Spear is the most eastern point in North America. - SH
Editor's Nitpick: Technically, the easternmost point in North America (that is, the point with the most eastern longitude) is in Alaska, since it is the only part of North America to be in the eastern hemisphere. Cape Spear is the easternmost point in the Western Hemisphere.
This song is item dD33 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
Lehr/Best: (viz., Best) In verses 5 and 6 "The smoke lay flying o'er the hills and pitching on the sea .... The Margrietta was our ship's name ...." "The Margrietta referred to is very likely the Mayaquezanna, a Spanish brig lost at Blackhead, near Cape Spear, on 14 August 1876. Both the captain and his wife were drowned." Northern Shipwrecks Database: Mayaquezana/Maguezana stranded in smoke with 2 or 3 lost. - BS
File: Doy38

Spanish Cavalier, The


DESCRIPTION: The Spanish Cavalier plays his guitar under a tree, asking his sweetheart to be true while he is off to war. He promises to return if he lives, and asks her to seek him if he dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Merchant's Gargling Oil Songster for that year)
KEYWORDS: war separation music
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
LPound-ABS, 106, p. 218, "The Spanish Cabineer" (1 text)
ST LPnd218 (Full)
Roud #2684
RECORDINGS:
Riley Puckett, "Spanish Cavalier" (Columbia 15003-D, c. 1924)
NOTES: My 1887 Merchant's Gargling Oil Songster lists this song as being copyrighted in the name of Gwo. W. Hagans, but this was simply a publishing house. The author is not listed. - RBW
File: LPnd218

Spanish Is a Loving Tongue


See Spanish Is the Loving Tongue (A Border Affair) (File: FCW052)

Spanish Is the Loving Tongue (A Border Affair)


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of his love for (and language lessons from) a Mexican girl. "But one time I had to fly For a foolish gambling fight." Though the affair may have been a mistake, he still misses her and her farewell, "Adios, mi corazon."
AUTHOR: Words: Charles Badger Clark
EARLIEST DATE: 1920; apparently copyrighted 1919
KEYWORDS: love separation abandonment gambling fight foreigner
FOUND IN: US(Ro,SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 52, "Border Affair" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 278-279, "Spanish Is a Loving Tongue" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 141, "Spanish Is The Loving Tongue" (1 text)
DT, SPANLOVE*
Roud #11085
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Spanish is the Loving Tongue" (on PeteSeeger30)
NOTES: A version of this is printed in volume 38, number 2 of Sing Out! (1993), p.70 credits the music to Billy Simon. This seems to be based on the statements of Katie Lee, but the information in the Sing Out! article by itself is not sufficient for me to credit Simon.
File: FCW052

Spanish Johnny


DESCRIPTION: "The old West, the old time, The old wind singing through..." are the habitat of Spanish Johnny, who herds cattle and kills men and "sing[s] to his mandolin." Spanish Johnny is finally hung; the night before he dies, he sings one last time to the mandolin
AUTHOR: Words: Willa Cather / Music: C. E. Scoggins (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: cowboy death execution music
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 123-124, "Spanish Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15551
NOTES: Written as a poem, the Lomaxes apparently collected this from the author of the tune. There is no evidence that it ever entered tradition. - RBW
File: LxA123

Spanish Ladies


DESCRIPTION: Sailor bids farewell to the Spanish (Australian, South American) ladies as his ship weighs anchor and departs for England (Massachusetts).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.17(305))
KEYWORDS: parting sailor Spain England
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US(NE) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Hugill, pp. 385-386, "Spanish Ladies" (2 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 293-294]
Sharp-100E 89, "Spanish Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 136-137, "Spanish Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 233-234, "Spanish Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 41, "Spanish Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 97, "Spanish Ladies" (1 text)
Ranson, p. 25, "The Spanish Ladies" (1 text)
DT, SPANLAD* SPANLAD3*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Farewell and Adieu" is in Part 4, 8/4/1917.
Roud #687
RECORDINGS:
Cadgwith fishermen, "Farewell and Adieu" (on LastDays)
Johnny Doughty, "Up the Channel" (on Voice12)
A. L. Lloyd, "Talcahuano Girls" (on Lloyd3, Lloyd9)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.17(305), "The Spanish Ladies", J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(1483), Harding B 11(3611), Firth b.34(40), Firth c.13(39), Firth c.13(41), "[The] Spanish Ladies"
LOCSinging, as104650, "Spanish Ladies", J. Catnach (London), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" (plot, tune, lyrics)
cf. "Brisbane Ladies" (plot, tune, lyrics)
cf. "The Countersigns" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Countersigns (File: Col135)
Brisbane Ladies (File: FaE162)
We'll Rant and We'll Roar (File: FJ042)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Farewell and Adieu To You
NOTES: This well-known melody inspired a number of local parodies, including "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" and "Brisbane Ladies." As most of these are deliberate rewrites, however, they are not included here. - RBW
File: ShH89

Spanish Lady (I)


See Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) (File: E098)

Spanish Lady (II), The


See The Spanish Lady's Love (File: OBB161)

Spanish Lady's Love, The


DESCRIPTION: Imprisoned by an English captain, the Spanish lady falls in love with her captor. They exchange praises for the English, and he tells her they are mismatched. This does not convince her; at last he says he is married. They go their separate ways
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1728 (registered 1603, and quoted in 1616)
KEYWORDS: courting separation love prison
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 247-251, "The Spanish Lady's Love" (1 text)
OBB 161, "The Spanish Lady's Love" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 84-85, "The Spanish Lady" (1 tune, partial text)
BBI, ZN2935, "Will you hear a Spanish Lady"; cf. AN2934, "Will you hear a German Princess"
ST OBB161 (Partial)
Roud #9735
File: OBB161

Spanish Maid, The


See A Gay Spanish Maid [Laws K16] (File: LK16)

Spanish Merchant's Daughter


See No, John, No (File: R385)

Spanish Privateer, The


See The French Privateer (File: HHH560)

Spanish Shore, The


See Lovely Sally (You Broken-Hearted Heroes) (File: HHH549)

Spanish War, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls "our last rebellion" in 1861, and declares that "battle must be fought" against Spain to "avenge the Maine": "They sunk her, never to rise again." Despite the possibility of loss, the war must be pursued
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Spain battle war navy soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1895 - Cubans rebel against Spain
Feb 15, 1898 - Explosion of the battleship "Maine" in Havana harbour
April 25, 1898 - Congress declares war on Spain
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 95-96, (no title) (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Sweetheart Went Down with the Maine" (theme) and references there
NOTES: For further information about the Maine and the Spanish-American War, see the notes on "My Sweetheart Went Down with the Maine."
This particular piece of rampant jingoism and blatant inaccuracy strikes me as possibly the work of the yellow press. - RBW
File: ThBa095

Spanking Maggie from the Ross


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells listeners about a race urged by "Mr. Montague." Campbell Miller accepts the bet. Jockey Bell holds back his horse for a time, to increase the excitement and the wagering, then wins easily. The singer offers a toast to the winners
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: racing gambling horse trick
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H516, p. 35, "Spanking Maggie from the Ross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13354
File: HHH516

Sparking on a Sunday Night


See Sparking Sunday Night (File: R379)

Sparking Sunday Night


DESCRIPTION: As "Down behind the hilltops goes the setting sun," young lovers gather to court and go "sparking Sunday Night." The young people wait impatiently for her parents to drop off so they can spark seriously. Conclusion: sparking is fine -- but best on Sunday
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting love family
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 379, "Sparking Sunday Night" (1 text); 468, "Sparking on Sunday Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 95-96, "Sparking on a Sunday Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2820
NOTES: Randolph treats his two pieces as separate, and does not even cross-reference them. It's true that the forms are slightly different, and that his #379 includes a sub-plot (waiting for the parents to fall asleep) not found in #468. But the key phrase is the same, and so is the feeling; I think they are one piece. - RBW
File: R379

Special Agent/Railroad Police Blues


DESCRIPTION: "Now, when I left for Ripley the weather was kind of cool...." "Now, I swung that 97...." "Now, them special agents up the country sure is hard on a man...." The singer asks the special agents to evict him near a town so he can make a recording
AUTHOR: Sleepy John Estes (1904-1977)
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (recording, Sleepy John Estes)
KEYWORDS: train hobo technology
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 435-436, "Special Agent/Railroad Police Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Sleepy John Estes, "Special Agent (Railroad Police Blues" (Decca 7491, 1938)
File: LSRai435

Speckles (Freckles)


DESCRIPTION: "He was little 'en peaked 'en thin 'an Narr't a no 'account horse" (sic). The singer describes meeting (Freckles) many years ago, and being surprised by the gameness of this "no account" horse (which managed to rescue him from a party of Indians)
AUTHOR: N. Howard Thorp
EARLIEST DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: horse cowboy Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thorp/Fife XXIII, pp. 254-257 (48-50), "Speckles" (2 texts, the second being an extension of the first)
Roud #8044
NOTES: Another Thorp composition that had little play in tradition. Even so, it has a variant reading; the author couldn't decide whether the horse was named "Speckles" or "Freckles"! - RBW
File: TF23

Speculation


See Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)

Speed the Plow (Sal'sb'ry Sal)


DESCRIPTION: Known as a fiddle tune, Flanders gives the words as "Oh, high, diddy-di, for Sal'sb'ry Sal, Plump she was, and a right smart gal, Swing to the center and caper down the hall, High, diddy-di, and a balance all...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: dancetune nonballad
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders/Brown, p. 26, "Sal'sb'ry Sal" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 111-112, "Speed the Plow" (1 tune plus dance instructions)
NOTES: "Speed the Plow" is, of course, one of the most popular of fiddle tunes. We can't absolutely identify it with the words in Flanders and Brown, though, because they don't give a tune! - RBW
File: FlBr026

Spencer the Rover


DESCRIPTION: "These words were composed by Spencer the Rover, who travelled Great Britain and most parts of Wales." After much rambling and assorted adventures, he returns "to his family and wife" and decides to go roving no more
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1877
KEYWORDS: rambling family return
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 331, "Spencer the Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 264-265, "Spencer the Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SPENCROV*
Roud #1115
File: K331

Spendthrift Clapt Into Limbo, The


See Limbo (File: CrMa124)

Spider and the Fly, The


DESCRIPTION: "'Will you walk into my parlor?' said the spider to the fly -- ''Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.'" The fly demurs; the spider persists; at last she is lured "within his little parlor -- but she ne'er came out again."
AUTHOR: Mary (Botham) Howitt (1799-1888)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: bug trick lie death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1670, "The Spider and the Fly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #837, pp. 316-317, "('Will you walkin into my parlor?' said the spider to the fly)"
Roud #13006
NOTES: Mary Howitt, the wife of author William Howitt, made a number of translations into English (including, apparently, some of the works of Hans Christian Andersen), but is hardly remembered today except for this one piece. Granger's Index to Poetry cites ten poems of hers, but most are in only a single reference; 11 books are cited for this piece. I have this feeling that some of those other citations are instance where editors wanted to prove she did more than write "The Spider and the Fly." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BGMG837

Spider from the Gwydir, The


DESCRIPTION: "By the sluggish River Gwydir Lived a wicked redbacked spider...." A drunken shearer falls asleep near its lair. A man and woman come up and set out to rob him. As she approaches, the spider bites her. She flees in pain; the shearer is saved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: bug humorous robbery
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 204-205, "The Spider from the Gwydir" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 170, "The Moree Spider" (1 text)
File: MA204

Spike Driver Blues


See Take This Hammer (File: FR383)

Spin Spin


See Whistle, Daughter, Whistle (File: R109)

Spin, Daughter, Spin


See Whistle, Daughter, Whistle (File: R109)

Spin, Meine Liebe Tochter (Spin, My Little Daughter)


See Whistle, Daughter, Whistle (File: R109)

Spinnin' o't, The


DESCRIPTION: Once "some canty goodman" sang "A wee pickle tow for the spinnin o't." "The stupid auld carlin" left the linen too close to the fireplace. The goodman says that he had asked forty years for a shirt with nothing to show.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness fire husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #60, p. 2, "The Spinnin' o't" (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan3 474, "The Spinnin' o't" (1 fragment)
Roud #5971
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "She's Aye Tease, Teasin'" (theme: the wife who won't spin, but sets the flax on fire)
NOTES: Greig prints only the first verse of the three in GreigDuncan3 and considers it "an introductory verse to 'The spinnin' o't' [that is, "The Wee Pickle Tow"] which I have never come across in any version of the song which I have hitherto seen." GreigDuncan3's other two verses still seem introductory, hardly advancing the story, and may be just a fragment of "The Wee Pickle Tow." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD3474

Spinning Rhyme


See My Wheelie Goes Round (File: MSNR173)

Spinning Song


DESCRIPTION: "Spin, ladies, spin all day (x2), Sheep shell corn, Rain rattles up a horn, Spin, ladies, spin all day (x3)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: worksong nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 215, "Spinning-Song" (1 short text)
File: ScNF215A

Spinning Wheel (I), The


DESCRIPTION: A young man comes courting the girl, praising her beauty and kissing her hand, "But yet I turned my spinning wheel." At last he proposes (marriage/a roll in the hay); she (accepts and leaves her wheel/orders him away)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: love courting technology work rejection marriage
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Arnett, pp. 12-13, "The Spinning Wheel" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SPINWHL2*
File: Arn012

Spirit of the Lord Has Fell On Me


DESCRIPTION: "O John, O hallelujah, O John, O the spirit of the Lord has fell on to me." "Hallelujah to the lamb, Spirit of the Lord has fell on to me, Jesus made me what I am...." "Prettiest work I ever done... To work for the Lord when I was young...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad work Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 92, "Spirit of the Lord Has Fell On Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4918
NOTES: If this is an allusion to any Biblical incident at all (and I'm not sure it is), I suspect it's to Revelation 1:10, where John was "in the Spirit on the Lord's day." John is associated with the giving of the Spirit in passages such as Acts 8:15, but Peter seems to be the prime mover in all such places. - RBW
File: ChFRA092

Spirit Song of George's Bank, The


See The Ghostly Crew [Laws D16] (File: LD16)

Spiritual Railroad, The


See The Road to Heaven (File: R600)

Sport Song, A


See The Quaker's Courtship (File: R362)

Sport's Lament


DESCRIPTION: "I am a poor forlorn dog and Sport is my name." Born in Caw, he is sent to Donegal but has no training. At first his owner treats him well, but then a dog tax is imposed; the master throws him out because he is expensive and useless
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: dog abandonment animal home
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H772, p. 23, "Sport's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13346
NOTES: Obviously a composed song, with music perhaps set by Sam Henry, but I have been unable to determine when license taxes were imposed on British dogs. - RBW
File: HHH772

Sporting Bachelors, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you sportin' bachelors, take warning by me." The singer warns of a fast life and of marriage. His wife dresses him in rags, and makes him work constantly so she may live well. He hopes she dies so he may again be free.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920
KEYWORDS: marriage courting abuse bachelor
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 46, "Sporting Bachelors" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 14, "The Sporting Bachelors" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SPORTBCH*
Roud #5556
RECORDINGS:
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Never Be as Fast as I Have Been" (Victor 23565, 1929; on GraysonWhitter01)
Buell Kazee, "Sporting Bachelors" (Brunswick 157, 1927; Supertone S-2082, 1930; on KMM)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Never Be as Fast as I Have Been" (on NLCR14)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sorry the Day I Was Married"
cf. "Scolding Wife (IV)" (plot)
cf. "Married and Single Life" (subject)
NOTES: Roud lumps this with "Scolding Wife (IV)," and I cannot deny the close similarity in themes. But the two appear somewhat different in both form and emphasis. - RBW
File: LxU014

Sporting Cowboy


See Logan County Jail (Dallas County Jail) [Laws E17] (File: LE17)

Sporting Life Blues


DESCRIPTION: "I got a letter from my home, Most of my friends are dead and gone... That sporting life is killing me." The singer describes all the rowdy things he has done, wishes he had listened to his mother, and decides that he should marry and settle down
AUTHOR: Generally attributed to Brownie McGhee
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: rambling drink gambling
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 74, "Sporting Life Blues" (1 text)
DT, SPRTLIFE
File: FSWB074

Sporting Maggie


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl. She doesn't want to marry but only "to court with a sporting young blade that pleases Sporting Maggie." "If you love me as I love thee, What a sporting couple we would be."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy dialog rake whore
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 314-315, "Sporting Maggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6461
File: Pea314

Sporting Old Grey Mare, The


See The Old Grey Mare (III) (File: OLoc035)

Sporting Races of Galway, The


See The Galway Races (File: OLoc010)

Sporting Youth, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer asks Mary to go with him to America. She agrees although friends say he would not prove true. "So now we are landed and married we be We will live in contentment and sweet unity"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1821 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(4) View 2 of 2)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage emigration America Ireland floatingverses
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 47, "The Sporting Youth" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3016
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y2:013, "The Sporting Youth," The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 19C
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(4) View 2 of 2, "American strander" ("I'm a stranger in this country"), G. Thompson (Liverpool), 1789-1820; also 2806 b.11(278), Harding B 11(3206), Harding B 16(257a), Johnson Ballads 1834, "[The] Sporting Youth"; Harding B 16(6a), "The American Stranger"; Harding B 25(1845)[partly illegible], "The Stranger"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Colin and Phoebe" (tune, per broadside Bodleian Johnson Ballads 1834)
NOTES: Usually the stranger comes from America; in some cases he comes from Ireland. - BS
File: OLoc047

Sports o' Glasgow Green, The


DESCRIPTION: "Ae morn in the sweet month o' July... Young Jockey had trysted wi' Jenny To gang wi' him in to the fair." They go to Glasgow, see all the strange people and exhibits, have sundry adventures, and head home to sleep it off
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord), from an undated songster
KEYWORDS: worker music animal humorous drink food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, pp. 396-399, "The Sports o' Glasgow Green" (1 text)
Roud #5615
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blythesome Bridal" (tune, thematic elements)
File: Ord397

Spotted Cow, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a milkmaid who has lost her spotted cow. He says he's seen the cow in yonder grove, and offers to show her. They spend the day there. Now whenever she sees him, she calls to him again: "I have lost my spotted cow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1889 (Baring Gould)
KEYWORDS: courting love sex farming animal lover worker
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,North))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy 142, "The Spotted Cow" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 151, "The Spotted Cow" (reproduction of a broadside page with "The Pretty Plough Boy," "The Spotted Cow," and "Canadian Boat Song")
Roud #956
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Spotted Cow" (on HCox01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kitty of Coleraine" (theme)
cf. "Blackberry Grove" (theme)
cf. "Three Maidens to Milking Did Go" (theme)
NOTES: Not to be confused with "The Old Spotted Cow," a version of "The Crafty Farmer." - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K142

Spotted Islands Song, The


DESCRIPTION: The Anderson leaves Cupids "for a dance in Spotted Islands In the good old Fishin' Time!" The ships are named. "We had on board eight females" but the crew "kept up good behavior" and landed them safely on Wednesday morning.
AUTHOR: Samuel Richards
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Blondahl)
KEYWORDS: commerce sea ship dancing
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Blondahl, pp. 91-92, "The Spotted Islands Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Cupids is on Cape Breton. Spotted Islands is off the coast of Labrador. - BS
File: Blon091

Spottee


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you good people and listen to me, And a comical jest I will tell unto ye, Concerning one Spottee that lived on the law key...." The wild man frightens women and children and horses; many hope to see him move, but sailors will not take him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: madness
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 72-73, "Spottee" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR072 (Partial)
Roud #3142
NOTES: Stokoe quotes Sir Cuthbert Sharp to the effect that song tells of an actual madman "who lives in a cave between Whitburn and Sunderland, which still retains the name of 'Spottee's Hole.'" - RBW
File: StoR072

Spree at Montague, The


DESCRIPTION: "There were a spree in Montague ... At a farmer's house." The fiddler could not play a good dance tune and blamed the fiddle. A second fiddler is called in and plays very well with the same fiddle. Moral: Invite fiddler number two to ensure a good dance.
AUTHOR: Patrick William Farrell
EARLIEST DATE: 1969 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: vanity dancing fiddle party
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 208-209, 255, "The Spree at Montague" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13996
RECORDINGS:
John Farrell, "The Spree at Montague" (on MREIves01)
NOTES: Montague is on the east coast of Kings County, Prince Edward Island. - BS
File: UvDC208

Sprig of Shillelah, The


DESCRIPTION: The Irishman "loves all that's lovely": drinking, fighting. May English, Scots and Irish drub the French and be "united and happy at loyalty's shrine, May the rose and the thistle long flourish and twine Round a sprig of shillelah and shamrock so green!"
AUTHOR: Edward Lysaght (1763-1810)? (according to Croker-PopularSongs); Henry Brereton Code (d. 1830)? (according to Bodleian documentation re broadsides (see notes))
EARLIEST DATE: 1807 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 10(50))
KEYWORDS: war England France Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
O'Conor, p. 13, "The Sprig of Shillelah" (1 text)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 110-115, "The Sprig of Shillelah" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 481-482, 503, "The Sprig of Shillelah"
Roud #13379
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 10(50), "Sprig of Shillelah and Shamrock So Green", Laurie & Whittle (London), 1807; also Harding B 17(299a), "The Sprig of Shillelah and Shamrock So Green"; Firth b.34(279), "Sprig of Shillelagh"; Harding B 11(3632), 2806 c.18(300), "Sprig of Shilelah"; Harding B 11(892), "Sprig of Shillalah"; Harding B 18(448), Harding B 17(298a), Harding B 17(298b), Johnson Ballads 60, "Sprig of Shillelah"; Harding B 25(1830) [only partly legible], "The Sprig of Shilelah and Shamrock So Green"
LOCSinging, as203420, "Sprig of Shillelah", Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Darling Neddeen" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
SAME TUNE:
Black Joke (broadside Bodleian Harding B 10(50))
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 10(50) notes that the text was "sung with unbounded applause by Mr Johnstone, of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane." The publication date is October 20, 1807. The Peninsular Campaign against the French in Portugal is in the news. That may explain the text's sense of unity of Irish and English against the French. O'Conor has the leek of Wales with the rose of England and thistle of Scotland, in "the rose, leek and thistle" joining the shamrock of Ireland.
The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) site entry for Henry Brereton Code notes that Code included "Sprig of Shillelah" in his 1813 musical drama "The Russian Sacrifice, or the Burning of Moscow." While its inclusion there is consistent with its sense of unity the earlier broadside rules against the play as its first appearance. The site also refers to Code as "a particularly detested character, spy and informer" from the Irish viewpoint.
Irish Minstrelsy by H. Halliday Sparling (London, 1888), pp. 481-482, 503, "The Sprig of Shillelah" makes the attribution to Edward Lysaght (1763-1810).
Croker-PopularSongs, p. 106: "The Irish oak, figuratively termed 'a sprig of Shillelah,' is so called from Shillelah, a district in the county of Wicklow, formerly celebrated for its oak woods.... [Quoting The Dublin Penny Journal:] '... an Irishman cannot walk or wander, sport or fight, buy or sell, comfortably, without an oak stick in his fist.'"
I can no longer reach the Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) site. Perhaps I misunderstood the entry there to indicate that Henry B. Code is the author; Bodleian, in its documentation for broadsides Harding B 25(1830), Harding B 17(299a), 2806 c.18(300) and Harding B 17(298b) also has Code as the author [Code's name is not on the face of any of those broadsides]. Croker, possibly Sparling's source, has Edward Lysaght as the author. Lysaght's title for the song was, apparently, "Sprig of Shillelah and Shamrock so Green," as on a number of the broadsides.
If this poem had been included in Poems by the Late Edward Lysaght, Esq (Dublin, 1811) that would have gone a long way toward settling the authorship question. That book is a collection of some of Lysaght's poems, but not this one.
Broadside LOCSinging as203420: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon013

Sprig of Thyme


See In My Garden Grew Plenty of Thyme AND Thyme (It Is a Precious Thing) AND Garners Gay (Rue; The Sprig of Thyme) (File: R090)

Sprightly Young Damsel


DESCRIPTION: Daughter complains of pains. Mother says it's time to marry the rich miller. Daughter would marry the unsuspecting father, poor farmer Willie. Mother refuses. Daughter reminds mother of her own indiscretions. Mother relents and prepares a grand wedding.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (according to notes to IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: wedding pregnancy dialog humorous mother miller
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #18473
RECORDINGS:
Michael "Straighty"' Flanagan, "Sprightly Young Damsel" (on IRClare01)
File: RcSpYDam

Spring of '65


See The Backwoodsman (The Green Mountain Boys) [Laws C19] (File: LC19)

Spring of '97, The


DESCRIPTION: "The Spring of '97 boys, For if we never knew The hardship of the frozen pan, We suffered with them too." "We struck the seals off Cabot Isle, Five days out from port" The song describes killing harp seals, storm, ice damage, and sealers dying.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: memorial death hunting ship sea work ordeal storm
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Peacock, pp. 976-977, "The Spring of '97" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 74, "The Spring of '97" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 77-78, "The Spring of '97" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 44-45, "THe Spring of '97" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doyl3074 (Partial)
Roud #6470
File: Doyl3074

Spring of the Wadhams, The


See Maurice Crotty (File: Pea073)

Spring Trip of the Schooner Ambition, The


DESCRIPTION: Captain Himmelmann and the crew of the Ambition go out fishing in March. The song details where they go and even the frozen squid they use as bait, as well as all the trouble the crew has fishing; it ends with all happily ashore
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: ship fishing work
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Doerflinger, pp. 177-179, "The Spring Trip of the Schooner Ambition" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9425
NOTES: As this piece is blessed with defective metre, no rhyme scheme, and banal lyrics, I can only suspect that the informant was close to the author. I doubt the piece ever established itself in tradition (Doerflinger knows of no other versions, and Roud lists none). - RBW
File: Doe177

Springfield Mountain [Laws G16]


DESCRIPTION: A young man is out mowing a field. He is bitten by a poisonous snake. In "serious" versions, he dies because no one comes to his aid. In others, his sweetheart tries to draw the poison but instead is killed herself when the venom enters a "rotten tooth"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1836
KEYWORDS: death animal lover injury
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 7, 1761 - Death by snakebite of Timothy Myrick, often considered the inspiration for this song
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So)
REFERENCES (31 citations):
Laws G16, "Springfield Mountain" (sample text in NAB, pp. 35-36)
Belden, pp. 299-300, "Springfield Mountain" (1 text plus a reference to 1 more)
Randolph 424, "Springfield Mountain" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Eddy 109, "Springfield Mountain" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 38, "Springfield Mountain" (2 texts, 1 tune)
BrownII 208, "Springfield Mountain" (3 text plus 3 fragments and mention of 1 more; the final fragment, "G," may perhaps be another song)
Hudson 61, p. 184, "Springfield Mountain" (1 short text)
Brewster 76, "Springfield Mountain" (1 fragment)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 223-224, "Springfield Mountain (I), (II)" (2 texts)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 15-18, "On Springfield Mountain" (2 texts plus some scraps, 2 tunes)
Linscott, pp. 285-286, "Springfield Mountain or The Black Sarpent" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 719-723, "Springfield Mountain" (4 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 53-54, "The Rattlesnake Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 302, "Springfield Mountain" (4 texts)
Warner 23, "Springfield Mountain"; 65, "On Springfield Mountain" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
SharpAp 132, "Springfield Mountain" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Scott-BoA, pp. 44-45, "Springfield Mountain"; pp. 156-158, "The Pesky Sarpent" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 9, "Springfield Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 3, "Springfield Mountain"; 212, "Springfield Mountain (Texas Version)" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 356-357, "Rattle Snake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 828-829, "On Springfield Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 554-555, "The Pesky Sarpent" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 16, "Smithfield Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 81, "Springfield Mountain" (1 text)
JHCoxIIB, #3A-3C, pp. 122-125, "Springfield Mountain," "The Venomous Black Snake" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 146-147, "Springfield Mountain" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
LPound-ABS, 42, pp. 97-98, "O Johnny Dear, Why Did You Go?"; pp. 98-99, "Woodville Mound]"; pp. 99, "In Springfield Mountain"; p. 100, "Springfield Mountain" (4 texts)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 167-170, "Springfield Mountain" (1 text, probably rewritten, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 218-220, "Springfield Mountain" (2 texts, one labeled a parody)
Silber-FSWB, p. 216, "Springfield Mountain" (1 text)
DT 314, SPRNMNTN* SPRNMTN2* SPRNMTN4*
Roud #431
RECORDINGS:
Winifred Bundy, "Young Johnny (Springfield Mountain)" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Springfield Mountain" (on BLLunsford02) (on AschRec2)
"Yankee" John Galusha, "Springfield Mountain" (on USWarnerColl01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Fod" (words)
cf. "The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
O Polly Dear
NOTES: Phillips Barry studied this ballad in depth, and concluded that it fell into four subfamilies: the "Curtis" type (serious), the "Molly" type (comic; see, e.g. DT SPRNMNTN), the"Myrick" type (serious; see DT SPRNMTN2), and the "Sally" type (comic; see SPRNMTN4).
Spaeth, for some reason, credits this to someone named Nathan Torrey (A History of Popular Music in America, p. 64), but offers no supporting evidence. He also believes that the comic type "The Pesky Sarpent" comes from the political season of 1840! (The notes in Brown support this to the extent that they credit it to the stage performers George G. Spear and George H. Hill.) - RBW
File: LG16

Springhill Mine Disaster (1891)


DESCRIPTION: "Hark, the horn blows loud and long, There is something wrong ... One hundred three and twenty Of our Springhill miners dead Killed in the bowels of the earth Where none could hear their cries"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: death mining disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb 21, 1891 - Springhill Disaster
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 185, "Springhill Mine Disaster (1891)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SPRINGH2*
Roud #2713
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "La Complainte de Springhill (The Lament of Springhill)" (subject)
NOTES: February 21, 1891: Springhill Coal Mine explosion kills 125 men. (Source: our roots/nos racines (Canada's local histories online) Story of the Springhill Colliery Explosion : comprising a full and authentic account of the great coal mining explosion at Springhill Mines, Nova Scotia, February 21st, 1891, including a history of Springhill and its collieries by R.A.H. Morrow.) - BS
This was not the last disaster in the Springhill coal mines; Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl documented the 1958 tragedy in "Springhill Mine Disaster (1958)." - RBW
File: CrMa185

Springhill Mine Disaster (1958)


DESCRIPTION: Describes collapse of mine tunnel in Springhill, Nova Scotia, 1958; twelve men are trapped in a cave-in, while several are killed. The lamps, food and water give out; after eight days some are rescued
AUTHOR: Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (copyright by authors)
KEYWORDS: rescue death mining disaster ordeal worker
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 124, "Ballad of Springhill (The Springhill Mine Disaster)" (1 text)
DT, SPRINGHI*
NOTES: I include this, although it's a recently-composed song, because it is solidly within the traditional ballad style, and because it's entered the common repertoire. - PJS
Usually listed as by MacColl and Seeger, but their official report is that it is "chiefly the work of Peggy Seeger."
The mine disaster of 1958 was not the only Springhill tragedy; there had been an earlier (and even more deadly) cave-in in 1891, for which see "La Complainte de Springhill (The Lament of Springhill)" and "Springhill Mine Disaster (1891)."
The town of Springhill is in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, not far from the New Brunswick border, on the fringes of the Cobequid Mountains (really hills). There is still coal in the area, but it is now considered a minor resource; there is, in fact, a nuclear power plant nearby.
Joseph Ruby reports that MacColl's figures are inaccurate: "75 men were killed and about 40 were rescued - after 12 days, not eight." - RBW
File: FSWB124A

Springtime It Brings on the Shearing, The (On the Wallaby Track)


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the springtime it brings on the shearing, And it's then you will see them in droves...." The singer describes the life of the shearer: Hard at work in season; rambling the rest of the year and "making johnny-cakes round in the bend"
AUTHOR: from the poem "On the Wallaby Track" by E.J. Overbury
EARLIEST DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: sheep work Australia rambling
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 186, "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 text, 1 tune); probably also pp. 259-260, "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 text, 1 tune, but in a very sorry state of repair)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 130-131, "The Springtime It Brings On the Shearing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 185-186, "(The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 excerpt, filed under "The Flash Sydney Shearers")
DT, SPRNGSHR*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Flash Sydney Shearers" (form)
File: MA186

Squarin' Up Time


DESCRIPTION: With their fish sold, the sailors go to the store to "square up." They spend their cash on various items, often behaving very badly when they can't have what they want. All is well until the parson strolls in, whereupon the men start offering him credit
AUTHOR: Arthur Scammel
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: sailor money humorous
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Peacock, pp. 98-99, "Squarin'-Up Time" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 182, ""Squarin' Up Time (1 text; the tune -- "Vilikens and His Dinah" -- is on pp. 180-181)
Blondahl, pp. 35-36, "Squarin' Up" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ182 (Partial)
Roud #4548
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Squaring Up Time" (on NFOBlondahl02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: Newfoundland fishermen lived much like American farmers: Borrow heavily in the spring to finance their fishing trips, spend the summer fishing, return in the fall with their yield, sell it and "square up" with the bank or the merchant. - RBW
Blondahl: "The poem Squarin Up was written by Mr Scammell in 1933. This poem and some twenty others by the same author may be found in a booklet titled Mirrored Moments, published in Montreal in 1945." - BS
File: FJ182

Squatters of Maine, The


DESCRIPTION: "Approach ye Feds, in phalanx brace, With mien and visage ireful." "For Maine her 'squatters' sends to town, On legislative station." "Now, join as one, with heart and hand, exterminate this faction." Federalists can thrive by halting the people of Maine
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1806 (Boston _Independent Chronicle_, according to Gray)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gray, pp. 142-143, "The Squatters of Maine" (1 text)
NOTES: In the early days of the United States, what is now the State of Maine was part of Massachusetts. Maine did not separate until 1820. This apparently caused substantial unrest in 1806 (at least according to Gray). The Federalist Party had lost the presidency in 1800, by a very slim margin, with most of New England voting Federalist while the rest of the country voted for the Jeffersonians. In 1804, the trend was worse -- the Federalists lost even Massachusetts.
It appears, from the items quoted by Gray, that Massachusetts proper remained Federalist (and the state went Federalist in 1808, 1812, and 1816, the last elections in which there was a Federalist candidate), but Maine was Jeffersonian. The people of Massachusetts resented the power of the Maine-ites, and complained about it. This satire was apparently a Jeffersonian counter-blast. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Gray142

Squeball


See Skewball [Laws Q22] (File: LQ22)

Squid-Jiggin' Ground, The


DESCRIPTION: A song of the life of a squid fisherman. The fishermen are named, as are their homes and their peculiarities. The final stanzas warn of the messy work: "Now if ever you feel inclined to go squiddin', leave your white shirts and collars behind in the town"
AUTHOR: Arthur R. Scammell
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1929
KEYWORDS: fishing nonballad moniker work
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 51-53, "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 66-67, "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 57-58, "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 32-33, "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 127, "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" (1 text)
DT, SQUIDJIG*
Roud #4429
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Squid Jiggin' Ground" (on NFOBlondahl05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When Our Boys Gave Up Squiddin'" (tune)
cf. "The Napan Heroes" (tune)
NOTES: Fowke writes, "The tale of what happens when fishermen head for 'The Squid-Jiggin' Ground' is the most widely known of all Newfoundland songs.... It was written by... Arthur R. Scammell when he was only fifteen....
"The squid is a species of cuttle-fish about ten inches long which is used as bait for larger fish. It has the peculiar characteristic of squirting forth an inky liquid when it is disturbed. Large schools of squid move in at certain parts of the Newfoundland coast during August, September, and October, and then the fishermen head out to pull them in with line and jigger." - RBW
The tune is one used by The Flanagan Brothers for their 1927 release of "Mick from Tralee" (on The Flanagan Brothers, "The Tunes We Like to Play on Paddy's Day," Viva Voce 007 (1996) from Columbia 33187-F June 1927). It is close to the tune of the chorus to "Paddy's Panacea" on Voice13. - BS
File: FJ051

Squire Agnew's Hunt


DESCRIPTION: The singer wanders by (Kellswater park) and is enjoying the bird songs when he spies Squire Agnew's hunting pack. After a long chase, they take down the stag. The singer goes to "drink brandy with Squire Johes Agnew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: hunting animal drink
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H140, p. 30, "Squire Agnew's Hunt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13351
File: HHH140

Squire and the Fair Maid, The


See Down By Blackwaterside (File: K151)

Squire and the Gipsy, The


DESCRIPTION: A squire meets a Gypsy. He forgets his upbringing, swearing he'll marry her. She offers to tell his fortune; he tells her he knows it: she's to be his bride. She asks if he's trying to insult her; there's more honesty in the lowly than the aristocracy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (recorded from Harry Cox)
LONG DESCRIPTION: A young squire, straying alone in the countryside, meets a lovely Gypsy lass. He forgets his upbringing, swearing he'll marry her. She offers to tell his fortune; he tells her he already knows it: she is to be his bride. She asks if he's trying to insult her with his "grand proposal", saying she lives a light-hearted and contented life, and that there's more honesty in the poor and lowly than in the aristocracy
KEYWORDS: poverty pride courting love marriage rejection beauty lover Gypsy
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kennedy 355, "The Squire and the Gypsy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1628
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Squire and the Gypsy" (on HCox01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gypsy Maid, The (The Gypsy's Wedding Day)" [Laws O4] (theme)
cf. "The Laird o Cockpen" (theme)
cf. "The Weaver's Daughter" (theme)
File: K355

Squire Boys, The


DESCRIPTION: "On the eighteenth day of December in the year of ninety-five, Them dates I will remember as long as I'm alive." The singer talks mostly of the troubles and bad weather encountered by teamsters on the way to the camp, but also alludes to the men there
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger travel lumbering storm
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #22, "The Squire Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4362
File: FowL22

Squire Nathaniel and Betsy


See The Old Oak Tree [Laws P37] (File: LP37)

Squire of Edinburgh Town, The


See Katharine Jaffray [Child 221] (File: C221)

Squire of Eninboroughtown, The


See Katharine Jaffray [Child 221] (File: C221)

Squire Relantman


See Lamkin [Child 93] (File: C093)

Squire, The


See The Old Oak Tree [Laws P37] (File: LP37)

Squire's Bride, The


See The Golden Glove (Dog and Gun) [Laws N20] (File: LN20)

Squire's Daughter, The


See The Young Shepherd (I) (File: CrMa108)

Squire's Lost Lady, The


See Jack the Jolly Tar (I) (Tarry Sailor) [Laws K40] (File: LK40)

Squirrel, The


See Raccoon (File: R260)

SS Leinster Lass, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer wanders by the Clyde when the Leinster Lass comes into view. The singer boasts of the ship, its crew, its band, its flag. He wishes success to ship and crew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: nonballad ship
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H808, p. 98, "The S[team]s[hip] Leinster Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 46, "The Leinster Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13367
NOTES: Lani Herrmann notes the oddity of a steamship being called upon to "reef and steer." This occurs in the final verse, which also seems to show a change in perspective (from an onlooker on the shore to, apparently, a crewmember). One must suspect this verse is intrusive. Not unusual in songs of this type. - RBW
File: HHH808

St. Albans Murder, The


See James MacDonald [Laws P38] (File: LP38)

St. James Infirmary


See Saint James Infirmary (File: San228)

St. James' Hospital


See The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime) [Laws Q26]; also The Unfortunate Rake (File: LQ26)

St. Patrick Was a Gentleman


See Saint Patrick Was a Gentleman (File: OCon105)

St. Patrick, The


DESCRIPTION: "The Mail Boat, Paddy, ... now lies in the sea"; a German Bomber sinks her. Captain Fardy says "All hands try your lives to save" and goes down with the ship. The survivors "risked their precious lives, their shipmates to rescue." Twenty-three are lost
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1943 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor war
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jun 13, 1941: World War II. The ferry St Patrick is attacked and sunk by a German dive bomber; Captain and 23 lost. (source: Ranson; Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 69)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 96-97, "The St Patrick" (1 text)
File: Ran096
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