Sweeter the Breeze (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "Take a deep seat and a faraway look, Keep him between your knees. The higher he goes, the sweeter the breeze. Keep your mind in the middle and let both ends flop!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: cowboy horse nonballad recitation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 86, "The Sweeter the Breeze" (1 text)
NOTES: Even Ohrlin admits this is a "cross between a verse and a saying." But I suppose it might be traditional advice for a bronc rider, so here it is. (Ohrlin made up another piece with this title, not included here.) - RBW
File: Ohr086

Sweetheart in the Army, A


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

Sweetheart, Farewell


See I Can Forgive But Not Forget (Sweetheart, Farewell) (File: BrII166)

Sweetheart's Appeal to Her Lover, A


See The Lover's Curse (Kellswater) (File: HHH442)

Sweethearts I've Got Plenty


DESCRIPTION: The singer passes her sweetheart "walking fast by another girlie's side." He waves to her but she passes by "for I hate to be slighted by a man .... sweethearts I've got plenty I can count them more than twenty" and her mind will "change with the wind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1140, "Sweethearts I've Got Plenty" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #6824
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (theme) and references there
File: GrD61140

Swiler's Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "Rise up me hearties with gaff and sculp, With hobnail rope and line." The singer repeatedly encourages his comrades in their tasks as they hunt seals. He admits that "many a hearty swiler sleeps 'round the Funks and Baccalieu," but still urges them on
AUTHOR: Words: Pat Byrne
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small)
KEYWORDS: hunting nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, pp. 144-145, "The Swiler's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sinking of the Caribou" (tune)
File: RySm144

Swiles of Newfoundland, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the day we left St. John's, me b'ys, It was a very fine day! Our wives an' sweethearts on the quay Says they, ye'll understand." The singer complains about the bad conditions, but delights in killing "swiles [seals] in Newfoundland."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (England, Vikings of the Ice)
KEYWORDS: hunting hardtimes
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 106, "The Swiles of Newfoundland" (1 text)
File: RySma106A

Swine-Herders


See Hog Drovers (File: LoF207)

Swing Low


DESCRIPTION: "Star in the east, swing low, Star in the west, swing low, Stars shining in my breast, Swing low, chariot, swing low. "My father's gone, swing low... Angels took him...." "My mother's gone...." "I got a letter... it was sent from heaven...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Bascom Lamar Lunsford)
KEYWORDS: religious father mother
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Swing Low" (on BLLunsford01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
cf. "Job, Job" (a few lines)
NOTES: Bascom Lamar Lunsford thinks this a forerunner of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and it's likely enough that I decided to include the song even though I'm not sure how strong it is in tradition. On the other hand, it is possible that it is a filed-down version, without the strong freedom motif of the better-known song. - RBW
File: RcSwinLo

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot


DESCRIPTION: Black spiritual: "Swing low, sweet chariot/Coming for to carry me home"; "I looked over Jordan and what did I see/.../A band of angels comin' after me"; "If you get there before I do/.../Tell all my friends I'm a-comin' too"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1872 (publ. in Theodore B. Seward, "Jubilee Songs, as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University")
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad slavery floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
PSeeger-AFB, p. 16, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 608-610, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 28, (no title) (1 fragment of 2 lines)
Silber-FSWB, p. 353, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1 text)
DT, SWINGLOW
Roud #5435
RECORDINGS:
Carroll Clark, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Black Swan 2024, 1921)
Cotton Pickers Quartet, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (OKeh 8917, 1931)
Lt. Jim Europe's Four Harmony Kings, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Pathe 22187, 1919) (Pathe 020581, 1923 [as Jim Europe's Four Harmony Kings])
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Victor 16453, 1910; rec. 1909)
Fisk University Male Quartet, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Columbia A1883, 1915; Silvertone 3294 [as Border Male Quartet], n.d.)
The Four Jacks, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Allen 21000, n.d. but post-wwii)
Mabel Garrison, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 640, 1901)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (RCA 27470, 1941)
Roland Hayes, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Vocalion [US & UK] 21003, n.d.; Supertone, 1931)
Hall Johnson Negro Choir, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 36020, 1930)
Kanawha Singers, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Brunswick 205, 1928)
Mitchell's Christian Singers, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Melotone 6-04-64, 1936)
Norman Phelps & his Virginia Rounders, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Decca 5247, 1936)
Paul Robeson, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 20068, 1926) (HMV [UK] 8372/Victor 25547, 1937)
Pete Seeger, "Swing Low" (on PeteSeeger24)
Southern Four, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Edison 51364, 1924)
Standard Quartette, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (CYL: Columbia, no #, 1894)
Taylor Sisters, Mae Helen Blakeney, soloist, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (on HandMeDown2)
Tuskegee Institute Singers, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 17890, 1916)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Swing Low"
cf. "Wade in the Water" (floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "Dawsonville Jail" (tune)
NOTES: Guy Logsdon & Jeff Place state that the songs were taught to the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1871 by two former slaves from the Indian Territory (Oklahoma), Aunt Minerva Willis & Uncle Wallace. See "The Presbyterian", Sept. 10, 1890, and Thoburn & Wright's "Oklahoma: A History of the State and Its People."
The subtext of running away to freedom is clear throughout this song; the fact that the title is a pun on the name of the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, may or may not be accidental. - PJS
File: PSAFB016

Swinging in the Lane


See Rosie Nell (File: San114)

Swinish Multitude, The


DESCRIPTION: Give me the man who bids "the sun of Freedom rise" against tyrants, and the soul who "inlists for Freedom's cause." May you "no longer unavenged be called 'The swinish multitude.'" Freedom is coming to the world. Dare to die pursuing statecraft's crimes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1804 (_Paddy's Resource_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 80, "The Swinish Multitude" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "Edmund Burke in his [Reflections on the Revolution] in France described the common people as the 'swinish multitude'.... The phrase was adopted as a mock compliment by sympathizers with the revolution and several United Irish songs played upon the phrase." - BS
Burke's precise quote is "Learning will be cast into the mire, and trodden down under the hoofs of the swinish multitude."
Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty, p. 173, reports that the United Irishmen of Henry Joy McCracken sang a "workingmen's song called 'The Swineish (sic.) Multitude." If he has a source for this, it appears to be E. Thompson, Working Class, p. 90. - RBW
File: Moyl080

Sword of Bunker Hill, The


DESCRIPTION: An old veteran, dying, bid his son to bring "the sword of Bunker Hill." Grasping the sword, in a burst of energy, he tells the boy how he captured the blade from a British officer. The old man dies
AUTHOR: "Covert"?
EARLIEST DATE: 1949 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: battle dying patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 17, 1775 - American defeat at the Battle of Bunker Hill
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders/Olney, pp. 224-225, "The Sword of Bunker Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', p. 88, (no title) (1 fragment, very likely not this song but associated by the informant with Bunker Hill, and it fits better here than anywhere else)
ST FO224 (Partial)
Roud #4684
NOTES: Although this song, by implication at least, praises American conduct at Bunker Hill, the record of the Colonials at that battle was in fact rather poor. Sent on the night of June 16 to garrison Bunker Hill, American troops instead occupied Breed's Hill, which was lower, less defensible, and closer to the British artillery. The British under General Gage attacked the next day. The Americans did show unaccustomed discipline, which caused the battle to last longer than usual, but ultimately the British forced them back.
The battle was a dreadful strain on the British, though, who suffered more than 1100 casualties (see Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775-1783, Free Press, 2005, p. 9), compared to 441 American losses.
The "Warren" of the song is Dr. Joseph Warren, the man who had organized Paul Revere's Ride and a leading figure in the rebel forces (although not one of their commanding officers). He was killed in the battle. (It will tell you something about conditions at the time that Warren, although he worked as a physician, actually earned his degree in theology, because that was the only curriculum taught at Harvard College at the time; see Weintraub, p. 8).
I have in my collection a damaged songster, date unknown but almost certainly from the period 1865-1885, attributing this to "Covert"; in the same songster, a piece called "Follow the Drum" is credited to "B. Covert." The Flanders/Olney text is nearly identical to the songster version. - RBW
File: FO224

Sycamore Tree, The


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

Sydney Cup Day


DESCRIPTION: Joe Thompson comes up to the singer on race day and asks him to back his horse. The singer is not interested
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954
KEYWORDS: horse racing gambling Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 35, "Sydney Cup Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA035

Sylvania Lester


See Locks and Bolts [Laws M13] (File: LM13)

Sylvia


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

Sylvia's Request and William's Denial


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

Sympathizing with the Fenian Exiles


DESCRIPTION: Keep your mouth shut and beware spies. We visit the Fenians jailed like "dogs kept in a manger." General Burk's turnkey "is worse than a Turk." Rossa, Luby and others are named. God is watching inside the walls. Our day will come.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: exile prison political
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann, p. 52, "A New Song Sympathizing With The Fenian Exiles" (1 fragment)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 131-133, "(A new song sympathising with) The Fenian Exiles" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.8(40), "A New Song Sympathising With the Fenian Exiles" ("My Irish frlends [sic] aome [sic] rally round"), unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 52 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian 2806 c.8(40) is the basis for the description.
Is the topic prisoners as in the text, or exiles as in the title? If the former the date is probably before 1871; else, after. - BS
For O'Donovan Rossa and the Fenian Exiles, see "Rossa's Farewell to Erin." - RBW
File: BrdSwtFE

Syng Hoit Faleri (Listen Little Bosun)


DESCRIPTION: Norwegian shanty. "Listen little bosun, what I want to tell you, do you want to play dice with me? Ch: Sing high falleri, fallala-lala."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 (L.A. Smith, _Music of the Waters_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty gambling
FOUND IN: Norway
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 557-558, "Syng Hoit Faleri" (2 texts-Norwegian & English, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hor Du Lille Baadsmand
File: Hugi557

T for Texas (Blue Yodel #1)


DESCRIPTION: "It's T for Texas, T for Tennessee (x2), It's T for Thelma, the gal who made a fool out of me." A lonely song for an unhappy man; he will buy a pistol and shoot the woman
AUTHOR: Jimmie Rodgers
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1928 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses hardtimes murder
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 339, "Leave for Texas, Leave for Tennessee" (2 texts)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 71, "T for Texas, T for Tennessee" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 152, "Mule Skinner Blues" (1 text, 1 tune, with one stanza of "T for Texas" thrown in at the end)
Roud #11743
RECORDINGS:
Jim Eanes, "Blue Yodel No. 1" (Rich-R-Tone 1058, n.d.)
NOTES: Jimmie Rodgers is apparently responsible for this song in its present form, but he built it up largely from floating verses.
To add to the fun, the Lomaxes took a verse of this and tacked it on to another Rodgers piece, "Muleskinner Blues." Given that neither song has much of a plot, it can be hard to separate the resulting hybrids.
It will show how strong was the influence of Rodgers that the song was in tradition within five years (Brown's "a" text is from 1930, and Henry's from 1934 or earlier). - PJS, RBW
File: LoF152A

T for Texas, T for Tennessee


See T for Texas (Blue Yodel #1) (File: LoF152A)

t-Oilean Ur, An


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer goes to America and sees nothing familiar: not a Christian, horse, cow, sheep, but only roaring wild animals and people. When he meets people from Ireland he realizes he would be fortunate to be home even just to find proper mourners.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage emigration America Ireland
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OBoyle 19, "t-Oilean Ur, An" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The description follows O Boyle's translation. - BS
I would assume that when the singer says he saw no Christians he meant he saw no *Catholics*. This would be almost reasonable if he migrated to, say, New England, especially in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century. - RBW
File: OBoy019

T.V.A. Song


See The TVA (File: Arn172)

T'ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'


See Ain't Gonna Rain No More (File: R557)

T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn


DESCRIPTION: Old "yowe" (ewe) resists penning and kicks the farmhand around the yard. The butcher is sent for; the yowe charges him and breaks his legs. She is sent to fight for the king, and kills soldiers in quantity.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (collected from Dean Robinson)
KEYWORDS: farming humorous talltale animal sheep
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 82, "T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1762
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grey Goose"
cf. "The Killing of the Big Pig (Iso Sika)"
NOTES: This seems to have been collected only once, but cognate stories of big animals that are hard to kill and cook are common (see cross-references). "The Derby Ram" is also connected. -PJS
Kennedy apparently regards it as the same as the piece "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn" (#271 in his collection). But neither the plot, nor the words, nor the music is the same. - RBW
Then there's the "Yowie wi' the Crookit Horn," which seems to be slang for an illegal whiskey still. - PJS
File: VWL082

Ta Me Mo Shui (I Am Awake)


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer lies awake until cock crow though the rest of the household sleeps: he had met a banshee the night before and she had doomed him to love her "until crack of Doomsday"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love magic
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 37-39, "Ta Me Mo Shui" (1 text)
OBoyle 24, "Ta me 'mo Shui" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: If you were brought up on the stories I was brought up on, you probably just think of a banshee as a (non-human) creature whose cry causes death. Not so in Irish legend; "Bean Sidhe" is a "woman of the hills" -- a member, presumably, of the old fairy folk, the Aes Sidhe, the "people of the hills." The Bean Sidhe may be young and beautiful, or an old hag; a family may have its own special Bean Sidhe -- an immortal, who announces the death of each member of the family. Legends of a young man falling in love with one are rare, but it fits the Irish concept. - RBW
File: TST037

Ta Ra, Limavady


DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Limavady. He lists the boasts of other towns (e.g. "Coleraine for Kitty justly proud"), but prefers the local product ("But the girls that take the shine off both Are the girls that come from Limavady"). He asks others to praise it also
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H706, p. 180, "Ta Ra, Limavady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8007
File: HHH706

Ta-Ra-Ra Boom De Ay (II)


DESCRIPTION: Descriptions of how various people came to be in their present psychological and sexual states, to the tune of "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 271-273, "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom De Ay" (4 texts, 1 tune)
File: EM271

Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e


DESCRIPTION: The words often consist of floating lyrics. The chorus, "Ta-ra-ra(-ra) Boom-de-ay," is diagnostic. Sayers' lyrics: "A sweet Tuxedo girl I see, Queen of swell society, Fond of fun as fond can be, When it's on the strict Q.T...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888
KEYWORDS: nonballad nonsense
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
FSCatskills 144, "Ta-ra-ra-ra Boom, Hurray!" (1 text plus many fragments, 2 tunes)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 144-146, "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e" (1 fragmentary text)
Gilbert, pp. 206-208, "Ta-ra-ra-boom-der-e" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 25, "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-Der-E" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 570-571+, "Ta-Ra-Ra boom-Der-E"
RECORDINGS:
Land Norris, "Bum Delay" (OKeh 45058, 1926)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm the Man that Wrote Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"
cf. "Will You Go Boom Today?" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay (We Have No School Today) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 102)
[Joe Hill's] Ta-ra-ra Boom De-ay (Barrie Stavis and Frank Harmon, editors, _The Songs of Joe Hill_, 1960, now reprinted in the Oak Archives series, pp. 22-23)
NOTES: Cazden et al present a list of the various authors who have claimed this piece while denying credit to any of them. (They concede the form "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e" to Henry J. Sayers, 1890; published in 1891 by Willis Woodward; cf. Spaeth, Read 'em and Weep, pp. 144-146.)
There was actually a lawsuit over the issue (Henry J. Sayers vs. Sigmund Spaeth et al, 1932). Fuld reports "Judge Robert P. Patterson later held that the music and words of the chorus were not original, but the first two verses were."
Randolph quotes Gilbert to the effect that the tune "is said to have originated in Babe Connors' famous St. Louis brothel" (!). Something very similar appears in a Strauss piece.
This uncertainty resulted in the comic parody "I'm the Man that Wrote Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay." - RBW
File: FSC144

Ta-ra-ra-ra Boom, Hurray!


See Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e (File: FSC144)

Tacking of a Full Rigged Ship Off Shore


See Tacking Ship Off Shore (File: CrNS147)

Tacking Ship Off Shore


DESCRIPTION: In a storm the ship is driven toward "the lighthouse tall on Fire Island Head" but the skillful captain and crew avoid "a dangerous shoal" and "steady the helm to the open sea"
AUTHOR: Words: Walter F. Mitchell
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: sea ship storm sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 147, "Tacking of a Full Rigged Ship Off Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS147 (Partial)
Roud #1845
NOTES: The author, according to Creighton-NovaScotia, is "a native of Nantucket Island"; perhaps the Fire Island lighthouse is the one on the Long Island shore of New York. - BS
The title "Tacking Ship Off Shore" does not seem to be found in tradition, but it appears to be the author's title. The poem seems to have been fairly popular; Granger's Index to Poetry cites five anthologies, mostly of the sentimental sort, containing the piece. - RBW
File: CrNS147

Taffy Was a Welshman (I)


DESCRIPTION: "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to my house And stole a piece of beef." Taffy and the singer engage in a campaign of theft against each other -- e.g. Taffy takes a bone; the singer finds it and beats Taffy with it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: abuse food theft
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 494, "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief" (2 texts plus a reprint of sheet music from c. 1865)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #67, pp. 72-73, "(Taffy was a Welshman)"
DT, TFFYWLCH
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Napper" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: "Taffy" is an English twisting of the Welsh pronunciation of "David" (Daffyd), the patron saint of Wales.
The English of course had a habit of baiting the Welsh, especially on Saint David's day. And the analogy here is rather exact: When it came to a war of raids, the English -- who had the English law on their side -- could do more damage. Taffy could steal, but the Englishman could not only steal but beat Taffy.
It's not clear to me that this is a folk *song*, but the notes in Brown connect it with "Napper," which is, so I thought it had better go in the Index for reference. - RBW
See the following broadside on the same theme:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3724), "The Welshman" ("Taffy came out of the border of Wales"), unknown, n.d.)
See the following reworked broadside "signed" by J.W. Ebsworth March 1, 1895:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3724), "Taffy Up To Date," unknown, 1895 - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OOxf494

Taffy Was a Welshman (II)


See Napper (File: Br3123)

Taffy Was a Welshman, Taffy Was a Thief


See Taffy Was a Welshman (I) (File: OOxf494)

Taglioni


DESCRIPTION: "Her mother had a nice wee dog, she used to call it Tony, And every time I kissed the girl he bit my Tagglieownie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: bawdy derivative nonballad dog
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 9, "Tagglieownie" (1 fragment)
Roud #3569
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "Tangaloni" (on IRClare01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Taglioni Coat" (line pattern and some text) and references there
NOTES: The current description is all of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment.
The following text is in the discussion of "As I Went Out Upon the Ice (Ag Dul amach ar an Leac Oighir dom)" at Andrew Kuntz's The Fiddler’s Companion site.
As I went out upon the ice, [or "One day as I went out to skate"]
The ice being rough and stony,
The ice it broke and down I went,
And wet my Taglioni. [or "tanlee ownee"]
Tunney-StoneFiddle: "My mother said it wasn't a nice song...."
The pattern of the four-line verse fragments, but not the bawdiness, seems based on the eight-line verse broadside "Taglioni Coat".
Here is a verse that seems the original for the previous fragment:
One chilly day, not long ago,
I met a sad disaster,
When on the Serpentine to show,
Myself a skating master,
I circles cut, the ice gave way,
Transparent, but not stony,
It cracked, gave way, I tumbled,
And soaked my Taglioni.
but, in this case, it's clear from the context that the singer considers himself a fashion plate whose Taglioni coat is literally soaked (or maybe I'm being naive again; see the LONG DESCRIPTION at "Taglioni Coat").
Reidy's "The Tangaloni" on IRClare01 mixes the broadside eight-line verse form and story with the four-line verse verse form bawdy verses and adds a chorus. I have included it under both songs.
"ta-glio-ni \tal'yone\ n -s [after Filippo Taglioni 1871 Ital. ballet master]: an overcoat worn in the early 19th century." (source: Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged (1976)); Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871). - BS
File: RcTaglio

Taglioni Coat, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer left his vulgar cronies behind when he bought a Taglioni coat. His fortunes changed when the coat led him to a wealthy lady, marriage and privilege. Clothes make the man.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Harding B 14(168))
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer used to be "shabby, low and mean" with vulgar cronies, but has put that behind him. Now, wearing a Taglioni coat, he is "known in all fashionable quarters" and admired by "London's fairest daughters" One day, ice skating, he falls into the Serpentine, soaking his coat. He is invited, by a lady with "lots of money" to go home with her, change his clothes and dry his coat. While drying his coat before her fire he proposes marriage, she accepts, they marry, and, among his advantages he gains "a flunkey, too, to curl my hair, And brush my Taglioni." Moral: to marry well "don't sport a Blouse, or Mackintosh, But try a Taglioni"
KEYWORDS: courting marriage clothes humorous servant
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #3569
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "Tangaloni" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 14(168), "Taglioni Coat" ("I once was shabby, low, and mean"), W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Taglioni" (line pattern and some text) and references there
cf. "Umbrella Courtship" (tune, per broadside Bodleian Harding B 14(168))
NOTES: Broadside Harding B 14(168) is the basis for the description.
"ta-glio-ni \tal'yone\ n -s [after Filippo Taglioni 1871 Ital. ballet master]: an overcoat worn in the early 19th century." (source: Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged (1976)); Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871). - BS
File: RcTagCoa

Tail Toddle


DESCRIPTION: The singer's wife left and before she returned "Tammie gart [made] my tail toddle [totter]." Neither dead, nor sick, "when I'm weel, I step about, An Tammie ..." Wedding guests gave coins; the bride says "o'er little For to mend a broken doddle [penis]"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (according to Farmer)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1716, "Tail Toddle" (2 texts)
DT, TAILTODL
ADDITIONAL: John Stephen Farmer, editor, Merry Songs and Ballads, Prior to the Year 1800 (1897 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol V, p. 253, "Tail Toddle"
Roud #11275
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 text count includes one bawdy verse on p. 402: "Lasses gar your tails toddle Spread your houghs [hips] lat in the dodle [penis] That'll gar your tails toddle." The translations are GreigDuncan8's.
Farmer: "[b. 1796] [By Burns; from The Merry Muses of Caledonia (c.1800); tune, Chevalier's Muster-roll]" - BS
Interestingly, neither of my (supposedly) complete editions of Burns lists this song. The material in the "Merry Muses" is anonymous; I do not think Burns's authorship can be proved, although it seems reasonable. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81716

Tailing a Kangaroo


See The Old Man Kangaroo (File: MA040)

Tailor and the Crow, The


See Carrion Crow (File: LoF072)

Tailor and the Sailor, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says she's sought by a tailor and a sailor. "I think I'll tak the sailor and let the tailor be." Tailors just sit and sew but sailors can turn a ship about and sail her. She'll wash his shirt and maybe they'll be married; or maybe not.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 57, "The Tailor and the Sailor" (2 texts)
Roud #5810
File: GrD1057

Tailor Ban, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer and tailor Ban are drinking buddies often mistaken for one another. They plan "a mad trip to Kilgarvin"; singer will marry Miss Foley but their alikeness will allow them some freedom. But if there's a child "let nobody ask who's the father"
AUTHOR: Sean O Tuama (Johnny Nora Aodha) (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: marriage disguise drink humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OCanainn, pp. 76-77,123, "The Tailor Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OCan076

Tailor Boy, The


See The Weaver and the Tailor (File: Log407)

Tailor By His Trade, The


See The Wearing of the Britches (File: K215)

Tailor Fell Through the Bed, The


DESCRIPTION: [C:] Dreaming of caulking his cloth, [O:] "the tailor fell through the bed, thimbles and a'." [B:] The lassie "kend that a tailor could do her nae ill." [O:] She asks for silver. [B:] She's lying alone and would be happy to see him again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1825 (Cunningham)
KEYWORDS: sex money humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1843, "The Tailor Fell Through the Bed" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Allan Cunningham, The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern, (London, 1825 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol II, pp. 335-336, "The Tailor"
Charles Kent, editor, The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, (London, 1885 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 273, "The Tailor"
Roud #13597
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jock Robb" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
cf. "The Campbells Are Coming" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
cf. "Beware o' the Ripells" (tune, per Burns)
cf. "The March of the Corporation of Tailors" (tune, per Cunningham and Kent)
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 is a fragment included as the first verse of both Kent and Cunningham. Kent says that Burns "claimed the authorship of no more than the second and fourth stanzas, the others having been produced traditionally by a humorous songwriter, whose name has been long forgotten." Cunningham, a questionable source [see, for example, notes to "The Grey Cock" and "Derwentwater"], has this to say: "This air is the march of the corporation of tailors. Some of the song is very old; some of it is by Burns; some of it has been added since his day: and still the song is not such a production as the air deserves. I know not what induced our ancient bards to speak so scornfully as they have often done of the art and mystery of shaping and sewing men's garments and shoes." Taking Kent as a guide, Cunningham's five verses include both "old" verses [O:], both of Burns's [B:], and one "added since" [C:]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81843

Tailor He's Been Seekin' Me, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer has been courted by a tailor and a sailor "but I think I'll tak' the ploughman lad and lat the rest gang free." A tailor can't work at night if he has no candle but a plowman can "water his steeds" any time
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #107, p. 2, ("The tailor he's been seekin' me") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan6 1126, "The Tailor He's Been Seekin' Me" (1 fragment)
Roud #6833
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yon Bonnie Lad" (theme) and references there
File: GrD61126

Tailor in the Tea Chest, The


See The Boatsman and the Chest [Laws Q8] (File: LQ08)

Tailor, The


DESCRIPTION: A tailor comes to mend clothes. The girl of the house falls asleep and the tailor rapes her. She would have her maidenhead returned. He asks how that should be. She says "jist the way that it was ta'en." He lays her down and "gien her't owre, and owre"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: rape sex virginity clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1438, "Daffin Doon Dilly" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: David Herd, editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. (Edinburgh, 1870 (reprint of 1776)), Vol II, pp. 145-147, "The Tailor"
Roud #7154
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Girl (The Fair Maid of the West)" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
cf. "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
File: GrD71438

Tain't Gwine Rain No Mo'


See Ain't Gonna Rain No More (File: R557)

Tak It, Man, Tak It (I)


DESCRIPTION: "When I was a miller in Fife, Losh, I thought that the sound o' the happer, said, 'Tak hame a wee flow to your wife.'" The singer lives his life, and constantly hears the temptation, upon seeing an item (especially drink) to "Tak it, man, tak it."
AUTHOR: David Webster (1787-1837) (source: Whitelaw)
EARLIEST DATE: 1835 (Webster "small vol. of poems," according to Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous theft
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 15-18, "Tak It, Man, Tak It" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 579, "Take it, Man, Tak It" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT, TAKITMAN
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 248-249, "Tak' It, Man, Tak It"
Roud #5591
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(13), "The Miller of Fife" ("When I was a miller in Fife"), R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 1860-1874; also Harding B 26(432), "Miller o' Fife"; Firth b.25(287), 2806 c.14(142), "Tak It, Man, Tak It"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Brose and Butter" (tune, per Whitelaw and broadside Bodleian 2806 c.14(142))
cf. "Take It, Bob" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Take It, Bob (File: GrD3578)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Mill and the Kiln
NOTES: Roud links this song with "The Working Chap" as found in Ord, etc. I flatly don't see it. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FVS015

Tak It, Man, Tak It (II)


DESCRIPTION: "Langsyne, fine I mind, little mair than a lad, I wrocht wi' John Jackson at Inkaboot Mill," where Jackson's daughter teases him and flirts. Asked for a kiss, she rejects him -- but at last he steals one, and in the end they are happily married
AUTHOR: Walter Towers?
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, p. 54-56, "Tak It, Man, Tak It" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5590
NOTES: Apart from the title line and the notion of temptation, this has nothing in common with "Tak It, Man, Tak It (I)" -- but I rather suspect one inspired the other. I'm not sure which way the dependence went; both have listed authors. This is clearly the less popular of the two. - RBW
File: Ord054

Tak Ye My Lad


See Fause Foodrage [Child 89] (File: C089)

Tak' Anither Gill


DESCRIPTION: "Cattle noo are very low, and corn winna sell, But we'll aye keep oor spirits up and tak' another gill." We'll kiss the lasses; they won't go home "and tell their auld mither"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming drink hardtimes nonballad courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 564, "Tak' Anither Gill" (1 text)
Roud #6035
File: GrD3564

Tak' Back the Ring, Dear Jamie


DESCRIPTION: The singer says "I canna leave my mammie, She's been sae kind to me." The singer's mother is old and frail, her eyes are dim "And seen they'll close and a'." The singer promised her father to take care of mother. If Jamie can't wait, they cannot marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: age marriage nonballad mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 901, "Tak' Back the Ring, Dear Jamie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6144
NOTES: GreigDuncan4 cites a reference to John Cameron's Lyric Gems of Scotland, not always an indication that the song is the same. However, since there is no ring in the GreigDuncan4 texts, and no other comment explaining the title, I assume there is a ring in the Lyric Gems text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD901

Take a Drink on Me


DESCRIPTION: Chorus "Take a drink on me/All you rounders, take a drink on me...." Verses float: "What did you do with that gun in your hand You give it to a rounder and he shot a good man", "If you keep on stalling, you'll make me think... your daddy was a monkey..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Charlie Poole)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, linked by chorus "Take a drink on me/All you rounders, take a drink on me/Oh, Lord, honey take a drink on me." Verses include "What did you do with that gun in your hand/You give it to a rounder and he shot a good man", "If you keep on stalling, you'll make me think/That your daddy was a monkey and your mama was an ape"; "You see that gal with a hobble on/She's good looking just as sure as you're born"
KEYWORDS: crime drink nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 156-157, "Take a Drink on Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 77, "Take a Drink on Me" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, p. 289, "Take a Drink on Me" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 239, (no title) (1 fragment, in which the listener is urged to "take a one on me!"; it seems more likely that it's this than "take a whiff")
Silber-FSWB, p. 28, "Take A Whiff On Me" (1 text); p. 235, "Take A Drink On Me" (2 texts)
DT, DRNKONME*
Roud #10062
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Take a Drink on Me" (on NLCR01)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Take a Drink on Me" (Columbia 15193-D, 1927; on CPoole01, CPoole05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Take a Whiff on Me" (tune, words)
cf. "Coney Isle" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Take Your Leg Off Mine (listed by Rorrer, p. 77, as a bawdy version of the above)
NOTES: This is a problem in classification. On the one hand, it's clearly a version of "Take a Whiff on Me." On the other, none of the verses of the latter show up in this song. So I call them siblings but, since we're being splitters here, different songs.
[The version on page 28 of the Folksinger's Wordbook], although it uses the "whiff" chorus, consists entirely of floating verses -- none of them the same as the verses in the Cohen/Seeger/Wood version, but many shared with common fiddle tunes. - PJS
File: CSW156

Take a Whiff on Me


DESCRIPTION: The singer "Walked up Ellum and... come down Main / Tryin' to bum a nickel, just to buy cocaine / Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me." The singer devotes considerable energy to seeking women and drugs, with slight success and open disregard for the risks
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Grant Brothers)
KEYWORDS: drugs sex
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 130-132, "Take a Whiff on Me" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 89, "Take a Whiff on Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 186-188, "Honey, Take a Whiff on Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 277, "Oh, Ho, Baby, Take a One On Me!" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHIFFME
Roud #10062
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "Take A Whiff On Me" (on Unexp1)
Freeny's Barn Dance Band, "Croquet Habits" (OKeh 45524, 1931; rec. 1930; on StuffDreams1)
Grant Brothers & Their Music, "Tell It to Me" (Columbia 15322-D, 1928; on RoughWays1)
Memphis Jug Band, "Cocaine Habit Blues" (Victor V-38620, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Take a Drink on Me" (tune, words)
cf. "Tom Cat" (lyrics, form)
cf. "Cocaine Blues (I)" (subject) and references there
NOTES: "Ellum" ("Elem," "Deep Elem") refers to Elm Street in Dallas, the heart of that city's red light district. The various versions of this song, naturally, differ considerably in local color. - RBW
The recording "Tell It to Me" presents another classification problem; also known as "Let the Cocaine Be," it has a chorus "Tell it to me, tell it to me/Drink corn likker, let the cocaine be" that other "Take a Whiff on Me" songs do not, and sometimes different verses. I'm joining them primarily because many versions of "Tell It to Me" include the "Honey, take a whiff on me" refrain, but a case could also be made for splitting. - PJS
File: RL130

Take Back Your Gold


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a man and a woman. She is begging him to be honorable and marry her; he refuses. He is going to be married to another. He offers money to soothe her. She says, "Take back your gold, for gold can never buy me."
AUTHOR: Monroe H. Rosenfeld & Louis W. Pritzkow
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (copyright assignment)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage betrayal money gold
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 820, "Take Back Your Gold" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 183-184, "Take Back Your Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 144-149, "Take Back Your Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7427
RECORDINGS:
Walter Morris, "Take Back Your Gold" (Columbia 15101-D, 1926)
File: R820

Take her Out of Pity


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

Take It Out, Take It Out, Remove It


See Crazy Song to the Air of "Dixie" (File: San342)

Take It, Bob


DESCRIPTION: The singer is Bob Bell, a miller fond of drink. He tries often to quit drinking but his mill seems to say "Take it Bob, take it, it's better than tea" He dreams he is dead but hears the mill say he should take the brandy meant for the mourners.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #81, p. 2, "Take It Bob" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 578, "Take It, Bob" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6041
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tak It, Man, Tak It (I)" (tune and the temptation theme)
File: GrD3578

Take Me Back to the Cumberland Mountains


DESCRIPTION: "Take me back to the Cumberland Mountains, I don't like Lynchburg any more; I want to go home to our old log cabin...." The singer looks back to seeing Pap, Mammy, Uncle Mose, old dog Tray, and the various farm animals
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: home family return father mother animal
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 126-127, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Thomas seems to have thought this was "Uncle Noah Bentley's Coon Hunting Song," but it has nothing to do with raccoons or hunting. It was said to have "the favorance of 'Sourwood Mountain,'" but with no tune, this cannot be proved.
The item has all sorts of references to other songs (e.g. "old dog Tray"), but it appears to be a matter of allusion rather than common floating material. - RBW
File: ThBa126

Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South


See Sweet Sunny South (II) (File: DTsunsou)

Take Me Down the Harbour


DESCRIPTION: "Take me down the Harbour on a Sunday afternoon, To Manly Beach or Watson's Bay Or round to Coogee for a day... Good old Harbour, Sydney Town, They can't beat you." The singer enjoys his girl and sailing in Sydney Harbour
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954
KEYWORDS: Australia nonballad
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 35-36, "Take Me Down the Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Said to have been a popular music hall song in the early twentieth century in Australia. - RBW
File: MA035A

Take This Hammer


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells a (fellow prisoner?) to take his hammer to the captain; the singer is running away. The hammer (which killed John Henry) will never kill him. The versions show considerable variations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: "Take This Hammer": 1915 (collected by Newman Ivey White); "Nine Pound Hammer" variant: 1927 (Sandburg; recording, Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters)
KEYWORDS: prisoner work escape nonballad worksong
FOUND IN: US(SE) Jamaica
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 571-582, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 383, "John Henry" (6 texts, but the last three belong with this song)
Sandburg, p. 376, "Ever Since Uncle John Henry Been Dead" (1 text, 1 tune, which I believe belongs here although the text is too short to be sure); 457-458, "My Old Hammah" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 280, "John Henry" (2 texts plus 5 fragments, 1 excerpt, and mention of 1 more, but it appears that fragments "B," "D," "E," and "G" go here)
BrownIII 241, "Some of These Days and It Won't Be Long" (1 text plus a fragment; the "A" text shows hints of incorporating another ballad); also 240, "I Been a Miner" (1 4-line fragment, consisting of the stanza "I been a miner most of my life" and the stanza, "Big John Henry (x3) poor boy blind")
Chappell-FSRA 104, "The John Henry Hammer Song" (1 short and 1 very long text, 1 tune; the short text might be anything and the long, though it ends with these verses, includes much floating material about railroad construction)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 219, (no title) (1 short texts; neither has the "take this hammer" line, but they fit metrically and mention the hammer that killed John Henry); p. 220, "Work-song" (1 short text, 1 tune, at least related to this); p. 220, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 short text); p. 220, "Work-song" (1 short text, with a verse of this song although it also mentions shooting Ida in the leg)
Colcord, p. 186, "Rocks In De Mountens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 93, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 145, "Roll On, Buddy"; 297, "East Colorado Blues" (2 texts, 2 tunes -- both, especially the former, folk processed and expanded and perhaps derived in part from other songs.)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 237-240, "Take This Hammer" (2 texts, 1 tune)
GreenMiner, p. 329-331, "Nine Pound Hammer" (7 texts, 2 tunes)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 100, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 112, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 94-95, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 913, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 137-138, "(John Henry)" (1 text, with a fragment of the plot of "John Henry" but many lyrics from "Take This Hammer"); pp. 285-286, "John Henry (Version III)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 234-235, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, filed with three texts of "John Henry"); also pp. 327-328, "John Henry, " "This Old Hammer" (2 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 69, "Take This Hammer" (1 text); p. 124, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text)
DT, NINEPND* TAKEHAMR*
Roud #4299
RECORDINGS:
Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Columbia 15280-D, 1928; on LostProv1)
Emmett Brand, "Take This Hammer" (on MuSouth06)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Roll On, Boys" (Victor V-40024, 1929; rec. 1928) [I include this here for want of a better place; its chorus is from "Nine Pound Hammer/Roll On, Buddy," but the verses are unrelated floaters]
Palmer Crisp, "Roll On, John" (on Crisp01)
Delmore Bros. "Take It to the Captain" (King 718, 1948)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "The Nine-Pound Hammer" Victor V-40105, 1929; rec. 1928)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Roll On, Buddy" (on Holcomb2, HolcombCD1)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Brunswick 177, 1927)
Mississippi John Hurt, "Spike Driver Blues" (OKeh 8692, 1929; rec. 1928; on AAFM3, BefBlues3, MJH01, MJH02)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Roll On Buddy" (AFS 2548 B, 1939; on LC61)
Buffalo Johnson, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Rich-R-Tone 1023, 1952)
Buell Kazee, "Roll On John" (Brunswick 144, 1927) [a "Nine Pound Hammer" version]
Monroe Brothers, "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" (Bluebird B-6422, 1936)
Paul Robeson, "Water Boy" (Victor 19824, 1925; HMV [UK] B-8103, 1934)
South Carolina ditch diggers, "Ten Pound Hammer" (on LomaxCD1700)
Horace Sprott, "Take This Hammer" (on MuSouth04)
Ernest Stoneman & Eddie Stoneman, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Vocalion 02655, 1934)
Sweet Brothers, "I Got a Bulldog" (1928; on TimesAint04)
Henry Grady Terrell, "Old John Henry Died on the Mountain" (on FolkVisions2)
Art Thieme, "Railroad Blues and Nine Pound Hammer" [medley] (on Thieme01)
Merle Travis, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Capitol 48000, 1947; on 78 album "Folk Songs of the Hills", Capitol AD 50; rec. 1946)
Doc Watson, "Spike-Driver Blues" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
Tex Williams, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Decca 29764, 1955)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Henry" [Laws I1] (lyrics)
cf. "Jumpin' Judy" (lyrics)
cf. "Walking Boss" (lyrics)
cf. "Swannanoah Tunnel" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Drivin' Steel" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "Don't You Hear My Hammer Ringing" (lyrics)
cf. "Old Rattler" (lyrics)
cf. "Hammer Ring"
cf. "If I Had the Gov'nor" (theme)
cf. "Pickaxe Too Heavy" (theme)
cf. "Roll On, Boys" (lyrics, theme)
NOTES: The connection between this song and "Swannanoa Tunnel" is very strong; there are so many intermediate versions that we can hardly draw a clear distinction. But the extreme versions are sufficiently different that I have listed them separately. - RBW
Paul Stamler suggests that "Take This Hammer" and "Nine Pound Hammer" can be distinguished by the chorus (found in the latter) "Roll on buddy/Don't you roll so slow/How can I roll/When the wheels won't go."
Paul adds, ""According to the liner notes on LC61, the cited 78s (by Charlie Bowman and Al Hopkins) are the first recorded under the names 'Roll On, Buddy' and 'Nine Pound Hammer,' indicating the variant existed when these records were published. The Aunt Molly Jackson field recording dates from 1939. So I think we've established the variant's presence in tradition as early as the late 1920s. I think it's time to split 'em, with cross-referencing notes."
He's probably right. Sadly, we now have four references I can no longer check. So they remain lumped until I can find a way to get those books back. - RBW
Unfortunately, the liner notes to LC61 misled me. While it's true that the title "Roll On, Buddy" was first used by Charlie Bowman & his Brothers, his recording (placed here in earlier versions of the Index) wasn't this song. Instead, it was the one we have indexed as "Roll On, Buddy (II) [Roll On, Buddy, Roll On]." Sorry.
We can go further: Archie Green interviewed Charlie Bowman of Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, who stated that he and Al Hopkins had put together the "Roll On Buddy" variant from traditional fragments during their 1927 recording session, and the song was in fact copyrighted in their name. Bowman stated that he'd learned many of the fragments from African-American railroad workers in 1903-1905. - PJS
Norm Cohen has an extensive discussion, based on Archie Green's examination in Only a Miner. They note two basic elements: The "Take this hammer" stanzas, in non-rhyming couplets, and the "roll on buddy" verses, which do rhyme. They therefore suspect that Hopkins was the source of the combination. The problem is simply too great to fully explicate here; I can only recommend the discussions in Green and Cohen. - RBW
I place Robeson's "Water Boy" here for want of a better place. It contains several floating verses from this song (e.g., "There ain't no hammer that's on this mountain/That rings like mine..."). - PJS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FR383

Take Thy Old Cloak About Thee


See The Old Cloak (File: OBB170)

Take Your Fingers Off It


DESCRIPTION: "Take your (fingers/hands) off it, and don't you dare touch it, You know it don't belong to you." Various people try to keep others away from their sexual partners. One complains of "a house full of children and none of them mine."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: sex adultery betrayal
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 80, "Take Your Fingers Off It" (1 text)
DT, FINGROFF
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Salty Dog"
File: FSWB080

Take Your Time


DESCRIPTION: "Honey Baby, take your time, Please don't break this leg of mine. Don't like, an' I ain't goin' to have it no more." About a difficult family meal (?): Mama picks on Sam; Sister is out of control (doing the twist); the singer gets in trouble in town
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: food family bawdy
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, pp. 97-98, "Take Yo' Time" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10036
NOTES: Yes, Wheeler's text reads "Please don't break this leg of mine"! But she admits that her informants were expurgating the song as they went. Under it all, it is probably a bawdy song. - RBW
File: MWhee097

Taking Back Gear in the Night


See Taking Gair In the Night (File: FowM018)

Taking Gair In the Night


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you good people, come listen you might. It's only a ditty I'm going to write,... It's all about taking your gair [=gear -- the trawls used in capelin fishing] in the night." Song lists the fishermen of Penguin Island, their boats and hardships.
AUTHOR: Jerry Fudge ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1928
KEYWORDS: fishing home work sea ship shore
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fowke/MacMillan 18, "Taking Gair in the Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 145-146, "Taking Back Gear in the Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 105, "Taking Gear in the Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2327
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Gerry Fudge
File: FowM018

Taking Gear in the Night


See Taking Gair In the Night (File: FowM018)

Taking His Chance


DESCRIPTION: Bushranger Jack Dean comes to the door of the inn and dances with May Carney. Although all know he is an outlaw, the bushmen do not betray him. But at last someone notifies the police. Dean is shot and killed as he prepares to flee
AUTHOR: Henry Lawson
EARLIEST DATE: 1965
KEYWORDS: outlaw death police Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 270-271, "Taking His Chance" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA270

Talcahuano Girls


See Spanish Ladies (File: ShH89)

Tale of a Little Pig


See There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig (File: E068)

Tale of a Tramp


See The Tramp's Story (File: R844)

Tale of Jests, A


See Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)

Tale of the Trail, A


DESCRIPTION: "It ain't so far from right to wrong, The trail ain't hard to lose. There's times I'd almost give my horse To know which one to choose." The poet admits the difficulty of telling which is which, and so promises to help those who have gone astray
AUTHOR: James W. Foley
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Foley, "Tales of the Trail")
KEYWORDS: cowboy nonballad recitation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 41, "A Tale of the Trail" (1 text)
File: Ohr041

Talk About Jesus


DESCRIPTION: "Talk about Jesus -- he has blessed my soul, And he is gone. Must Jesus bear the cross alone? For there's a cross for everyone And... for me." "I heard the voice of Jesus saying, Come unto me and rest." "'Tis Jesus Christ I want to hear...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 639, "Talk About Jesus" (1 text)
Roud #11935
File: Br3639

Talking Blues


DESCRIPTION: "If you want to get to Heaven let me tell you what to do, Gotta grease your feet in mutton stew...." The singer boasts of the ways he avoids work and easily acquires food, sex, etc. Many of the verses float
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: work nonsense animal bird nonballad courting humorous floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 444, "If You Want to Go to Heaven" (1 fragment, apparently this piece)
Lomax-FSNA 224, "Talking Blues" (1 text with metrical markings)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 116-117, "Jest Talkin'" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 254-258, "When de Good Lord Sets You Free" (1 text, 1 tune -- an immense composite containing elements of "Moanish Lady," "Talking Blues," and probably other materials, to the tune of "Mourner, You Shall Be Free")
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 225, (no title) (1 fragment, perhaps one of the items that inspired the Lomax mess)
Silber-FSWB, p. 80, "Talking Blues" (1 text)
DT, TALKBLUE TALKBLU2
Roud #13912, etc.
RECORDINGS:
Chris Bouchillon, "Talking Blues" (Columbia 15120-D, 1927; Vocalion 02977, 1935; rec. 1926)
Pete Seeger, "Talking Blues" (on PeteSeeger32)
Roy Shaffer, "Talking Blues" (Bluebird B-8234, 1939/Montgomery Ward M-8493, c. 1940)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. every other song with the words "talking" and "blues" in the titles
cf. "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" (this piece is sometimes sung to a tune similar to that)
cf. "Henhouse Door (Who Broke the Lock?)" (floating verses)
SAME TUNE:
Talking Dustbowl Blues (File: LoF225)
Talking Hard Luck (File: CSW214)
Talking Atom (DT, TALKATOM; Sam Hinton, ABC-Eagle ABC-230, 1950; on PeteSeeger19, PeteSeeger48)
Chris Bouchillon, "New Talking Blues" (Columbia 15262-D, 1928)
Hersal Brown & his Band, "New Talking Blues" (OKeh 45247, 1928)
Hersal Brown & his Band, "Talking Nigger Blues" (OKeh 45247, 1928)
Hershal Brown, "New Talking Blues No. 2" (OKeh 45337, 1929)
Hershel Brown & his Boys, "Nigger Talking Blues No. 2" (OKeh 45337, 1929)
Curly Fox, "Curly's New Talking Blues" (Decca 5185, 1936; rec. 1935)
Jesse Rodgers, "Jesse's Talking Blues" (Bluebird B-6143, 1935)
NOTES: Robert Lunn and Chris Bouchillon both claim to have written and recorded the canonical "Talking Blues," with the above-quoted lyrics; however, it's likely they acquired the form and some of the verses from anonymous African-American musicians. [Given that Scarborough's text precedes them, I'd say it's nearly certain. - RBW]
[For the items in the "same tune" list, the] discographical information lists Mr. Brown's name as "Hersal" for one record and "Hershel" for another. I don't know which is right. And I've since found one spelled "Hershal." Are we confused yet? - PJS
File: LoF224

Talking Columbia


DESCRIPTION: "I was down along the river, just sittin' on a rock, Lookin' at the boats in the Bonneville lock." The singer describes what he sees along the river -- and how it inspired this song. He concludes that the world should be run by electricity, not dictators
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST DATE: 1941-2 (recording by author)
KEYWORDS: political river technology
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-FSNA 232, "Talking Columbia" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Talking Blues" (and its assorted relatives)
File: LoF232

Talking Dustbowl Blues


DESCRIPTION: Talking Blues about the dustbowl: The farmer sees his farm turn to dust, trades it for a Ford, heads out to California, has engine trouble, and winds up in California starving and having to beg. The song ends with sarcastic remarks about politicians
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST DATE: April 26, 1940 (recording by author)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes travel technology work political derivative dustbowl
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 225, "Talking Dustbowl Blues" (1 text)
Woody Guthrie, "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues" (Victor 26619, 1940)
DT, DUSTBOWL
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Talking Dust Bowl" (on PeteSeeger41)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Talking Blues" (and its assorted relatives)
NOTES: Should we change "Dustbowl" in the title to "Dust Bowl"? That was Guthrie's title, and he wrote it. - PJS
Ordinarily, I'd agree. But people may well search for "dustbowl." Urk. - RBW
File: LoF225

Talking Hard Luck


DESCRIPTION: Talking blues, describing the singer's hard times in surrealistic terms: "I've been bawled out and balled up, held down and held up... lost all I had and part of my furniture...and if that ain't hard luck, folks, then you tell me what is."
AUTHOR: Chris Bouchillon & Lonnie Glosson (each supplying part)
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Chris Bouchillon)+1936 (recording, Lonnie Glosson)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes nonsense recitation talltale
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 214-215, "Talking Hard Luck" (1 text with musical accompaniment)
DT, ARKLUCK
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Tom's Talking Blues (Hard Luck Blues)" (Ashley01)
Chris Bouchillon, "Born in Hard Luck" (Columbia 15151-D, 1927)
Clay Chapman, "Born in Hard Luck" (Velvet Tone 2498-V, 1932)
Lonnie Glosson, "Talking Hard Luck" (Conqueror 8732, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Talking Hard Luck" (on NLCR03, NLCR12, NLCREP1, NLCRCD1)
Buddy Starcher, "After I Lost That Job" (Starday SEP 158, c. 1960)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Born In Hard Luck
Good Place to Be From, Anyway
NOTES: This is a group of recitations on similar themes, basically grouped around the Bouchillon, Glosson, and Starcher pieces, all part of minstrel, circus and medicine-show traditions. The Ashley piece combines Bouchillon's and Starcher's with a couple of verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," while the New Lost City Ramblers stitch together Bouchillon's and Glosson's. Much of the material also shows up in the work of medicine-show artist Harmonica Frank Floyd. - PJS
File: CSW214

Talking with the Social Union


See Tobacco Union (Talking with the Social Union) (File: R508)

Tall Pine Tree, The (The Samsonville Song)


DESCRIPTION: At the foot of the tall pine tree is a brook which runs through Samsonville. The brook powers the mill that feeds Samsonville. The singer(s) love the pine tree, where they "get a chance for to take a glance at the girls in Samsonville"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 177, "The Tall Pine Tree, or, The Samsonville Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC177 (Partial)
NOTES: A parody of "The Old Pine Tree," written in 1849 by Charles White. - RBW
File: FSC177

Tallyho! Hark! Away!


See Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!) (File: DTReynrd)

Talt Hall


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you fathers and mothers And brothers and sisters all, I'll relate to you the history Concerning old Talt Hall." "He shot and killed Frank Salyers." Hall is taken and condemned to die. He writes to bid his brother farewell. He regrets his acts
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution crime
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 62, pp. 157-158, "Talt Hall" (1 text)
Roud #4102
NOTES: Combs/Wilgus reports that "Talt Hall, [a] native of Kentucky... was hanged in Virginia toward the end of the nineteenth century" and that "he had on his conscience more than twenty assassinations."
This song is item dE42 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: CW157

Tam Barrow


DESCRIPTION: Widower Tam goes out courting a second wife. He finds that "a' the lasses blinkit blythe, but few o' them had tocher," so at last he settles on a rich widow. He soon grows tired of her and casts her out.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: wife dowry money courting abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kinloch-BBook XXIV, pp. 77-78, "Tam Barrow" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 826, "Auld Tammy Barra" (1 text)
ST KinBB24 (Full)
Roud #6217
File: KinBB24

Tam Bo


See Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair) (File: HHH748)

Tam Broon


See The King Takes the Queen (File: FSWB232)

Tam Brown


See The King Takes the Queen (File: FSWB232)

Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair)


DESCRIPTION: The (widow) attempts to hire Tam. He asks about his wages. He talks her into an increase, then asks about his diet. Satisfied, he asks where he will sleep. After turning down several offers, he agrees to sleep with, and marry, her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: worker courting marriage home bargaining
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1424, "The Rigwuddy Carlin" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
SHenry H748, p. 263, "Magherafelt Hiring Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 194 (notes), (no title) (1 text, probably incomplete, but recognizably this, treated as a version of "Bargain With Me"; Kennedy also includes a portion of the Sam Henry text)
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1875 (reprint of 1828 edition)), Vol II, pp. 230-233, "The Rigwoodie Carlin'"
Roud #366
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bargain With Me" (plot)
cf. "My Good Old Man" (format)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Tam Bowie
The Wanton Widow
NOTES: In plot, this is identical with "Bargain With Me," but the form resembles nothing so much as "My Good Old Man." It seems to me best to keep "Tom Buie" and "Bargain With Me" separate, while noting their extreme similarity. Roud of course lumps them. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH748

Tam Frew's Hat


DESCRIPTION: "You've a' heard tell o' auld Tam Frew... Whase only way o' livin noo Is gaun aboot and cleanin' clocks... But the oddest o' his queerest ways -- He keeps his smiddy in his hat." Tam's hat, his behaviors, and his old age are humorously described
AUTHOR: John McLay?
EARLIEST DATE: 1899 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: clothes humorous technology
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 65-68, "Tam Frew's Hat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13113
File: FVS065

Tam Gibb and His Sow


See Matty Broon's Soo (Tam Gibb and the Soo) (File: HHH671)

Tam Gibb and the Soo


See Matty Broon's Soo (Tam Gibb and the Soo) (File: HHH671)

Tam Lane


See Tam Lin [Child 39] (File: C039)

Tam Lin [Child 39]


DESCRIPTION: Janet goes to Carterhaugh to pull flowers. She meets Tam Lin, who makes her sleep with him. She finds herself pregnant, and demands Tam Lin marry her. But to do so, she must rescue him from thralldom to the Elven queen. With difficulty, she does so.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1769; perhaps cited in 1549 (see notes)
KEYWORDS: magic pregnancy marriage rescue shape-changing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland,England) Ireland US(NE)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Child 39, "Tam Lin" (15 texts)
Bronson 39, "Tam Lin" (4 versions plus 1 in addenda)
GreigDuncan2 330, "True Tammas" (1 text)
Dixon II, pp. 11-20, "Tam-a-Line, the Elfin Knicht" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 250-254, "Tam Lane" (1 text; tune on p. 422) {Bronson's #4}
Leach, pp. 136-141, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
OBB 2, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 41, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
PBB 23, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 283-289+360, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 129, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
DBuchan 27, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 163-169, "Tamlin" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 28-31, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
DT 39, TAMLIN1* TAMLIN2* TAMLIN3
ADDITIONAL: Emily Lyle, _Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition_, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, pp. 110-111, "Tam Lin" (1 text plus an excerpt); pp.116-117, "Lady Margaret" (1 text, 1 tune, a much-worn-down version from Betsy Johnson); pp. 118-119, "[Leady Margat]" (1 text); on pp. 119-121 Lyle compares various texts of "Tam Lin" with portions of several other ballads
Iona & Peter Opie, The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse, pp. 32-37, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #558, pp. 658-663, "Tam Lin" (1 text, 1 tune, from c. 1796)
Roud #35
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "Young Tambling" (Briggs2, Briggs3)
A. L. Lloyd, "Tamlyn (Young Tambling)" (on Lloyd3)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Seven Virgins (The Leaves of Life)" (tune)
NOTES: Carterhaugh, also mentioned as the site of magic in "The Wee Wee Man," "is a plain at the confluence of the Ettrick and Yarrow in Selkirkshire" (Scott).
The idea of gaining a lover who is changing shape has ancient roots. We find it in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," where Peleus (the father of Achilles) has the problem of coupling with his wife Thetis.
The problem was, Thetis was very attractive, and a lot of the Gods (including Zeus and Poseidon) wanted her for themselves. But there was that prophecy that her son would be greater than his father. (This is the prophecy that finally got Prometheus free of his torture, because he knew who was involved and Zeus didn't).
Once the gods knew that Thetis was the dangerous party, they decided to wed her off to a mortal so she could have a son and they could get back to the serious business of hitting on her. They chose Peleus, and held a great marriage feast (it was at that feast that Eris threw out the Apple of Discord, causing the fight between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera which led to the Judgment of Paris, and hence to the abduction of Helen and the Trojan War).
The gods could marry Thetis off; they couldn't make her like it. Peleus found himself in the interesting position of having to locate and, in effect, capture his wife. Given help from the gods, he found Thetis in a cave and attempted to couple with her. To defeat him, she turned into a bird, a tree, and a tigress. The latter scared him off, but eventually he caught her while asleep (Metamorphoses XI.225ff.).
Dixon quotes a possible mention of this song from Wedderburn's Complaynt of Scotland: He refers once to a dance of "thom of lyn," and elsewhere to the "tayl of yong tamlane." But Lyle, p. 110, points out that the full reference in the latter case is to "the tayl of the 3ong tamlene and of the bald braband," with the meaning of the latter item being unknown. Hence we cannot prove that either of these is this piece, even if it's the same story. Indeed, Dixon hints that the references might be to "Tom o' the Linn," which appears to be the song we index as "Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn)."
Lyle catalogs a number of parallels to other ballads, noting especially (pp. 123-126) a link to "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" [Child 52]. The points of lyric contact are interesting, but "Tam Lin" is at the heart a ballad of the supernatural, "Lady Jean" an incest ballad. The only fundamental point they have in common is rape.
Some versions of the ballad end with the Queen of Fairie, deprived of Tam Lin, being forced pay another tithe to hell. Lyle, p. 128, connects this to the legend of changelings four, e.g., in "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" [Child 40]. The story is that the Elven people carried off unbaptized infants to pay their tithe. The difficulty with this link is that it implies that Janet could have saved Tam by bringing in a priest to have him baptized, rather than going through the rigamarole on Hallow's Eve.
Nonetheless Wimberly, pp. 390-391, follows a hint from Child and argues strongly that there is a baptism ritual involved -- it's just that the versions of "Tam Lin" have so disordered the transformations that this is no longer true. Presumably the transformations continued until Janet could bring Tam to water (perhaps a holy well?) and throw him in. From that, he would emerge "an utter naked man" -- but also cleansed of the taint of the Queen. This raises interesting questions about the possibility of re-baptism (which most sects would deny is possible), but maybe such analysis is too much to ask of a ballad.
For observations on shape-shifting in ballads, see the notes to "The Twa Magicians" [Child 44]. Lyle, p. 139, argues that the use of elements of other ballads in "Tam Lin" implies that it was compiled by a ballad-maker who did not believe in the literal truth of the elements. In other words, if I understand her right, there was no underlying folktale; it was composed as fiction. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C039

Tam o' My Back


DESCRIPTION: "There was Tam o' my back, an' Tam i' my lap ..., Tam o' the lea"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: riddle nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1632, "Tam o' My Back" (1 text)
Roud #13072
NOTES: "There are ten Tams here, suggesting manipulation of fingers or toes" (source: Ewan McVicar, Doh Ray Me, When Ah Wis Wee (Edinburgh, 2007), p. 26). - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81632

Tam O'Shanter Hat, The


DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing on the Tam o' Shanter's hat For the Cameronian Rifles." "John Bull, Pat, and Sandy true, Are a' amalgamated noo." At review time we outdo the Life Guards and Royal Blues." "Tho' we lose the Cameronian name, We ne'er can lose the Cameron fame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: pride army clothes nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 72, "The Tam O'Shanter Hat" (1 text)
Roud #5799
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: "The song refers to the amalgamation in 1881 of the 90th Light Infantry and the 26th Regiment of Foot to form the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The new uniform consisted of dark green doublet, tartan trews, and Tam o' Shanter (a flat woollen bonnet)." - BS
The amalgamation of regiments Ben mentions were part of the 1881 Cardwell Reforms. Prior to that, British regiments came in all sorts of sizes, strengths, and capabilities, because they had been raised at various times, and some had more ease keeping up their strength than others.
Cardwell (1813-1886) was Gladstone's Secretary of War from 1868, and he had three problems to deal with: "the army's unreadiness for war, its inability to provide adequate colonial garrisons and its officering by the antiquated system of the purchase of commissions" (Keegan/Wheatcroft, p. 59). "He brought in three major reforms: the Army Enlistment Act of 1870, the Regulation of the Forces Act of 1871, and the scheme of 1872 which linked battalions of a regiment so as to ensure regular exchanges between home and overseas stations, and gave each regiment a county affiliation and a recruiting and training depot within its county" (Haswell, pp. 100-101).
The first of these acts regularized the terms of soldiers, meaning that old drunks and cripples did not stay with the army, while the second got rid of commissions by purchase (Haswell, p. 101; Chandler/Beckett, p. 188, notes that this had to be done by executive authority because of opposition in parliament). Although all the reforms were widely opposed, it was was the third reform that caused the most controversy. It was not until 1881 that a successor of Cardwell, Hugh Childers, actually managed to amalgamate battalions (Haswell, pp. 114-115), and it took even longer to sweep out some of the old officers -- including the Duke of Cambridge, who as commander-in-chief of the army did his best to oppose the reforms (Haswell, p. 102).
From a purely military standpoint, the Cardwell Reforms were logical and vital; the old way resulted in a badly disorganized army. But the troops *hated* them -- since almost all regiments were combined with at least one other, they felt their history was lost. Plus they often lost their home places -- British regiments were largely recruited geographically, and the regions they recruited from were changed.
The Cameronians, according to Hallows, p. 282, had originally been the 26th Regiment; they were amalgamated with the 90th Regiment, the Perthshire Volunteer Light Infantry. They retained the title The Cameronians at the time. However, that name is now gone -- the Cameronians were disbanded in 1968, according to Hallows, p. 284.
According to Baynes/Laffin, pp. 158-159, the Cameronians were originally raised by Richard Cameron, and the soldiers were Covenanters. They had a distinguished history, serving with Marlborough, then later in the American Revolution, and they were with Moore in the Peninsula. They later served much time in Asia (Baynes/Laffin, pp. 159-160).
The old Cameronians were the first battalion of the post-Cardwell Cameronians. This battalion was eliminated in 1947, meaning that, as a formation, the old 26th Regiment ceased to be even before the amalgamated regiment was disbanded.
Part of the problem with the amalgamated Cameronians was that the other battalion of the regiment, the Perthshire infantry, was so different. Raised in 1794, they had a history entirely unlike the Cameronians, according to Baynes, pp. 160-161.
Baynes/Laffin, p. 162, says that the regiment served in Aden in 1966, then came home in 1967 to be told that it had a choice: Amalgamate with another regiment (again) or disband. They chose to disband; such companies as are left are now part of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: GrD072

Tam Pierce


See Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I) (File: K308)

Tam-a-Line, the Elfin Knicht


See Tam Lin [Child 39] (File: C039)

Tambaroora Gold


DESCRIPTION: The singer, down on his luck, redeems himself by moving to Tambaroora and finding gold. Now he has respect, but it is only for the money. When his money is gone, his girl abandons him for someone else with Tambaroora gold.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: gold elopement abandonment work hardtimes
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Manifold-PASB, pp. 40-41, "Tambaroora Gold" (1 text, edited; 2 tunes collated into one)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 206, "Tambaroora Gold" (1 text, fragmentary; 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wild Rover No More" (theme)
File: MA206

Tambaroora Ted


See Tomahawking Fred (Tambaroora Ted) (File: FaE138)

Tamiston


DESCRIPTION: Betty and Johnnie Smith court. He spends all his money on her. Lord Elgin seduces and leaves her. Her mother suggests Johnnie marry Betty. Betty makes up with Johnnie. They marry. Their daughters marry well and "her son micht weel command a ship"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage seduction children
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #165, p. 2, "Tamiston" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1060, "Tamiston" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #6302
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Johnny Smith
NOTES: Greig #166: "The Tamiston referred to, he [a correspondent] says, is between Glenfoudland and Huntly, in Drumblade. 'Michies Knowe' ["And she's taen in yon high stane road, By Andrew Michie's knowe."] should be 'Michies Howe.' [a 'knowe'" is a hill and a 'howe' is a low ground]" - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD51060

Tammy Chalmers


DESCRIPTION: The singer "left the kirk that patronage gae me" and his "simple flock" because "Tammie Chalmers, he's fairly diddled me." "But nocht can bring my bonnie glebe and stipend back again." He and his wife are grief-stricken.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: grief political religious clergy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 682, "Tammy Chalmers" (2 texts)
Roud #6107
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "This song is a satiric treatment of the Disruption of 1843 when, under the leadership of Dr Thomas Chalmers, approximately a third of the ministers of the Church of Scotland resigned their offices and endowments and formed the Free Church." -BS
There had been a long debate in the Church of Scotland in 1843 over whether a minister could be forced on an unwilling congregation. The idea is rather foreign to reformed doctrine, but it flows easily out of the hierarchical Anglican doctrine followed in England -- and England, of course, dominated parliament. So the official Church of Scotland policy allowed civil jurisdiction both over church courts and over congregations. (There were other differences between the groups, having to do with church policy and who ran congregations as well as with issues such as the treatment of the poor, but this is so nitpicky that even I don't want to dig into it. Both parties considered themselves the true Presbyterian church, but to be fair, both seem to have fallen within the limits of Calvinist theology.)
According to OxfordCompanionp. 295, 474 out of 1203 ministers in the Scottish church quit the official body to form the Free Church. According to Mitchison, p. 383, the ministers who withdrew were mostly the more strongly evangelical, and often leaders of new parishes, which tended to draw the more radically conservative ministers. According to MacLean, p. 204, by 1900 the Free Church (which in that year joined the "United Presbyterians" to form the "United Free Church") had more parishes than the official Church of Scotland. The two branches reunited in 1929 after Westminster abandoned its control over the Church of Scotland.
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) was the leader of these radical evangelicals. Prior to the split, he had worked to build up an endowment to support the various new congregations, but such an endowment could not match the government bounty given to official ministers. It sounds as if the singer in this song was swept away by the fervor of the evangelicals -- but then found that he had to survive based on nothing more than what his congregation gave him, rather than the government salary paid out of the taxes collected to support the state churches. - RBW
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Turriff (347,386,682) is at coordinate (h5,v7) on that map [roughly 31 miles NNW of Aberdeen] - BS
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: GrD3682

Tammy Traddlefeet


DESCRIPTION: Tammy Traddlefeet sings "I hae been a weaver lad, for twenty years an' twa." "We weaver lads were merry blades in good times" but prices have fallen. "We'll maybe live to see the time when things'll tak' a come" and good times will return.
AUTHOR: David Shaw (source: Fenton)
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (Fenton)
KEYWORDS: weaving hardtimes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 477, "The Weaver Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Andrew Fenton, editor, Forfar Poets (Forfar, 1879), pp. 61-62, "Tammy Traddlefeet"
Roud #5876
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Four-Loom Weaver" (subject) and references there
NOTES: The description follows Fenton.
Fenton: "This song was composed when wages for handloom weaving was low, and provisions very high in price, the now half-forgotten iniquity of Protection not yet having received its death blow." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3477

Tammy Tuck


See Joseph Tuck (File: OpOx087)

Tampa


DESCRIPTION: "Well I tamped all the way from Tampa In (21) days, buddy, in (21) days." "You got to tamp like me." Other verses tell of various disasters: "Ada shot Shorty." "Waterworks in Georgia just burning down." "I broke my brand-new hammer."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (recorded from Jesse Hendricks, J. B. Smith, Matt Williams, Louis Houston by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes disaster nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 300-302, "Tampa" (2 texts, 1 tune)
File: JDM300

Tamping Ties


DESCRIPTION: Call and response for tie-laying. "Tamp 'em up solid...Then they'll hold that midnight mail....Well, work don't hurt me...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: worksong railroading
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 445, "Tamping Ties" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BRaF445

Tan-Yard Side, The [Laws M28]


DESCRIPTION: The singer loves a girl who lives by the tan-yard side. After a year of courtship, they prepare to be wed, but her father has him sent to sea. He vows to marry her if he ever returns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1884 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3956))
KEYWORDS: courting exile sea return
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US(MA) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws M28, "The Tan-Yard Side"
Peacock, pp. 592-593, "The Slaney Side" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Creighton-NovaScotia 76, "Down By the Tan-Yard Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 25, "The Tan Yard Side" (1 text)
OLochlainn 41, "Down by the Tanyard Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H52b pp. 429-430, "The Slaney Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 585, TANYARD
ADDITIONAL: Maud Karpeles, _Folk Songs of Europe_, Oak, 1956, 1964, p. 69, "Down by the Tanyard Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1021
RECORDINGS:
Frank Quinn, "The Tan Yard Side" (on Voice10)
Phoebe Smith, "The Tan Yard Side" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3956), "The Tan-Yard Side," H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also Firth b.26(335), 2806 b.11(19), "The Tan-Yard Side"; Firth c.16(467), "The Tanyard Side"; 2806 c.15(330)[some lines illegible], "The Slaney Side"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(96b), "The Slaney Side," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c.1855
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Fish and Chips" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Fish and Chips (File: OLcM250)
File: LM28

Taney County


See Young Companions [Laws E15] (File: LE15)

Tap, Tap, Tapping


See Tapping at the Garden Gate (File: GrD4807)

Tapping at the Garden Gate


DESCRIPTION: The singer asks a girl in the room: "Who's that tapping at the garden gate" every night? She blushes and looks under the table. The singer says it's not there, and it's not a cat. "Cats don't know when it's half-past eight"
AUTHOR: Words: J. Loker; Music: S. W. New
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1375))
KEYWORDS: courting humorous nonballad animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 807, "Tap, Tap, Tapping" (1 fragment)
Roud #6208
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1375), "Tapping at the Garden Gate" ("Who's that tapping at the garden gate?"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Firth b.27(173), "Tapping at the Garden Gate"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Who's That Tapping at the Garden Gate?
NOTES: GreigDuncan4 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(1375) is the basis for the description.
The authorship attribution is from sheet music at California Sheet Project site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4807

Tapscott


See Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go) (File: Doe062)

Tar the Yoll


DESCRIPTION: "Tar the yoll [yawl] again." Father bought the tar yesterday and Jeannie put it on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonballad sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1622, "Tar the Yoll" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12985
File: GrD81622

Tar-ry Sailor, The


See The Saucy Sailor (Jack and Jolly Tar II) [Laws K38] (File: LK38)

Tardy Wooer, The


See No Sign of a Marriage [Laws P3] (File: LP03)

Tarland Laws, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Tarland's lasses braw, hearty boys, fertile fields and high mountains that "keep aff the stormy win's." Tarland toon has a weekly fair, markets, fighters that will chase all comers. "We'll drink success ... That Tarland wins ye a' man."
AUTHOR: William Thomson (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: pride bragging nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 511, "The Tarland Laws" (1 text)
Roud #5995
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Tarland (511) is at coordinate (h0-1,v4-5) on that map [roughly 28 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3511

Tarpaulin Jacket


See Wrap Me Up in my Tarpaulin Jacket (File: FR439)

Tarriers' Song, The


See Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill (File: LoF217)

Tarry Sailor


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

Tarry Trousers (I)


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

Tarry Trousers (II)


See As I Roved Out (I) (Tarry Trousers II) (File: LoF014)

Tartan Plaidy, The (O My Bonnie Highland Laddie)


DESCRIPTION: "When first he landed on our strand," Prince Charlie charms all who meet him. "When Geordie heard the news belyve, That he had come before his daddy," the king sends John Cope north. Cope and Charlie play cat and mouse. Stories of the '45
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1821 (Hogg2)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites rebellion battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1720-1788 - Life of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie," the Young Pretender, eldest son of James Stuart the "Old Pretender"
Jul 23, 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie lands on Eriskay
Jul 25, 1745 - Charlie transfers to Moidart
Aug 8, 1745 - Approximate date that firm word reaches George II's court of Charles's landing
Aug 19, 1745 - "Gathering of the Clans." Official raising of the standard at Glenfinnan
Aug 27, 1745 - Charlie expects to catch the army of General John Cope at Corriearrack, but Cope evades him and heads for Inverness. Cope from there heads to Aberdeen, to take ship south to Dunbar, moving from there to Prestonpans on Sep 20
Sep 4, 1745 - Charles enters Perth and proclaims his father King
Sep 17, 1745 - Jacobite army enters Edinborough
Sep 21, 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army routs the first real Hannoverian force it encounters
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden Muir ends the 1745 Jacobite rebellion
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hogg2 60, "O My Bonny Highland Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 126, "The Lad Wi' The Tartan Plaidie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5778
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, APS.4.95.15(2), "The Tartan Plaidie," unknown, c. 1830; also L.C.Fol.70(141), "Prince Charlie and his Tartan Plaidie," L.C.Fol.70(141a) [a trimmed version of the preceding], L.C.1270(005), "Charlie Stuart and his Tartan Plaidy," James Kay (Glasgow), c. 1845
ALTERNATE TITLES:
When Charlie First Cam to the North
Charlie Stuart and his Tartan Plaidy
Culloden Moor
NOTES: Looking at the texts available to me, this seems to be rather a catchall piece, describing the 1745 rebellion in as much detail as the singer wants to tell. On the whole, the versions seem fairly accurate, implying literary composition somewhere along the line. This fits with the anonymity of many of the prints.
The statement that "The graceful/manly looks o' that brave laddie Made every Hieland heartie warm" is, incidentally, true -- when Charlie landed, Lochiel of Cameron (the single most important chief to support him) sent messengers to urge him to go home. But Charlie arranged a meeting, and Lochiel was swept away. So were other chiefs.
The song describes a speech Charlie made to his troops before Prestonpans. This is real, though the details are doubtless unreliable; Charlie did give a speech which inspired his forces. If Cope did the same, obviously, it didn't work.
The comment that George II "thirty thousand pounds would give To catch him in his Hieland plaidie" is correct; within days of Charlie's landing, the government offered 30,000 pounds for his capture. Charlie initially made a contemptuous offer of thirty pounds for the head of George II, though political considerations later forced him to match the Hannoverian sum (obviously no one ever collected either reward).
In using the above dates, incidentally, it should be recalled that the Catholic continent was on the Gregorian calendar, but Protestant England still on the Julian (until 1752), making English dates 11 days behind continental dates. It is sometimes very hard to know which system a particular source is using; some, indeed, switch back and forth.
The dates given here and in most places in the Ballad Index are based on British Julian dates, since this is what seems to be most common -- e.g. Culloden, by modern standards, took place on April 27, 1746, but the references above list it as April 16, because that was the day marked on Cumberland's calendar (assuming he had enough brains to know what a calendar was, which is somewhat dubious). - RBW
See R. H. Cromek, Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, (London, 1810), p. 153 for two verses that probably belong here; the non-chorus lines are "A' the lasses o' Dunkel' Brew gude ale for Charlie's sel'" and "The bonniest may in a' Dundee Made down the bed for young Charlie." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BrAPS495

Tarves Rant, The


DESCRIPTION: A group of bothies go on a Sunday tear. After leaving the tavern, the singer is separated from his companions, and gets in a fight with a policeman. He's thrown in jail, escapes, is caught again, and has to pay for the policeman's torn coat, plus a fine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink police punishment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #81, p. 1, "The Tarves Rant" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 576, "The Tarves Rant" (5 texts, 3 tunes)
DBuchan 71, "The Tarves Rant" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix)
Roud #4847
RECORDINGS:
Davie Stewart, "The Tarves Rant" (on Voice05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Woods of Rickarton" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Tarves Ramble
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice05: "Tarves lies to the north-west of Aberdeen, between Old Meldrum and Nethermill." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: DBuch71

Tassels on Her Boots


DESCRIPTION: The singer is intrigued by the tassels on a girl's boots. He courts her; she speculates that he is sad because he always stares at the ground. He explains that he is looking at the tassels. Now they are married; he intends to tassel the childrens' boots
AUTHOR: Robert Combs
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (publication)
KEYWORDS: clothes courting
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 491, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 93-94, "Tassels on the Boots" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, p. 60, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 partial text)
Roud #3275
NOTES: Spaeth (A History of Popular Music in America, p. 173) says that this was "one of a large group of songs [in the 1860s] that discussed details of feminine attire," but mentions only this and "Jockey Hat and Feather." - RBW
File: R491

Tassels on the Boots


See Tassels on Her Boots (File: R491)

Tattie Jock


DESCRIPTION: The singer worked for Tattie Jock and Mutton Peggie. One night he and nine others were caught stealing potatoes. They fought the police. One escaped to join the navy. The others are sentenced to 13 years in Botany Bay.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: fight theft transportation trial farming work food Australia police
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #36, p. 2, ("Ye'll hae heard o' Tattie Jock"); Greig #151, p. 2, "The Bothy Lads o' Forfar" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan3 377, "The Bothy Lads o' Forfar" (2 texts)
Roud #5915
NOTES: "The whole point of why we sing the song is that these men were only stealing potatoes -- to eat. They were fed so very bad!" (Source: Artie Trezise quoted, regarding "Tattie Jock," in Dan Milner and Paul Kaplan, The Bonnie Bunch of Roses (Oak,New York,1983), pp. 117-118; the currect description is based on this text). - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3377

Tattie Time, The


DESCRIPTION: Bothy ballad. Singer describes members of the crew harvesting potatoes, people to avoid, and humorous incidents during the harvest. He warns againt drink. When the harvest is over they scatter to their other trades such as scrap and rags
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (recorded from Ronnie White)
KEYWORDS: farming harvest work humorous moniker boss worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
MacSeegTrav 105, "The Tattie-Liftin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 357, "The Tattie Time" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2162
NOTES: Almost a nonballad, but there are enough bits of narrative for it to squeak through. - PJS
File: McCST105

Tattie-Liftin', The


See The Tattie Time (File: McCST105)

Tattletale Birdy, The


See The Bonny Birdy [Child 82] (File: C082)

Tattooed Lady, The


DESCRIPTION: "I paid a (franc/bob) to see a fair tattooed lady...." The rest of the song describes the various sights to be seen on the lady's skin. These are generally localized (e.g. in Australia they see the ANZAC logo), ending with "my home in (wherever)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1975
KEYWORDS: nonballad parody humorous
FOUND IN: Australia US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 230-231, "The Tattooed Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 221, "The Tattooed Lady" (1 text)
Roud #9622
NOTES: Listed as a parody on "My Home in Tennessee," and the American versions seem to support that claim. The Australian version, however, could have picked up its tune from "Les Darcy." - RBW
File: FaE230

Tavern in the Town


DESCRIPTION: Singer laments her lover, who courted her ardently but now goes to a tavern and courts others while leaving her pining. She hopefully anticipates dying and being buried.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting infidelity rejection abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South,West),(Scotland(Aber)) US Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Sharp-100E 94, "A Brisk Young Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leather, pp. 205-206, "A Brisk Young Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 478-480, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (4 texts, though "D" is a fragment, probably of "Tavern in the Town" or "The Butcher Boy" or some such)
BrownIII 259, "I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree" (2 fragments, named for that key line from "Tavern in the Town" which occurs in both fragments, but the "A" text is mostly "Pretty Little Foot")
GreigDuncan6 1169, "Died for Love" (11 texts, 8 tunes); 1171, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
SHenry H683, p. 393, "The Apron of Flowers" (1 text, 1 tune -- apparently a collection of floating verses including one that goes here)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 210-213, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 84-85, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 180, "There Is A Tavern In The Town" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 572-573, "There Is a Tavern in the Town"
LPound-ABS, 23, p. 62, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 text; the "A" text is "The Butcher Boy")
Peacock, pp. 705-706, "She Died in Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 140-141, "The Tavern in the Town" (1 text, filed under "The Butcher Boy")
DT, TAVTOWN*
SEE ALSO:
Lomax-FSNA 229, "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 185, "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (1 text)
DT, TAVTOWN AINTHARD*
ST ShH94 (Full)
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
Amy Birch, "Over Yonder's Hill" (on Voice11)
"Pops" Johnny Connors, "There is an Alehouse" (on IRTravellers01)
Geoff Ling, "Died for Love" (on Voice10)
Rudy Vallee, "Tavern in the Town" (Victor 24739, 1934)
SEE ALSO:
Almanac Singers, "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (General 5019A, 1941; on Almanac01, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Woody Guthrie, "Hard Ain't It Hard" (Folk Tunes 150, n.d., probably mid-1940s)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(6a/b) View 7 of 8, "There Is A Tavern In The Town," R. March and Co. (London), 1877-1884
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] (plot)
cf. "The Sailor Boy (I)" [Laws K12] (lyrics)
cf. "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25]
cf. "I Know My Love" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Oh, Johnny, Johnny" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Rashy Muir" (tune, per GreigDuncan6)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
There Is an Alehouse in Yonder Town
There's a Tavern in the Town
Up The Green Meadow
Adieu, Adieu, Adieu!
NOTES: The overlap between this song and the "Butcher Boy" cluster is obvious; whether they're the same song is a Talmudic question. -PJS
The 1891 sheet music credits this piece to F. J. Adams. The earliest known printing of "Tavern" (as opposed to the presumably related Cornish miners' song "There is an Alehouse in Yonder Town"), however, does not give the author's name.
Alan Lomax calls "Hard Ain't It Hard" a reworking of this piece, and I'm going along on the principle that it certainly isn't a traditional song (given that it's by Woody Guthrie). I don't think it's that simple, though; the "Hard ain't it hard" chorus clearly derives from "Ever After On." - RBW
Yes, Rudy Vallee recorded it too. And blew the lyrics, I might add [My understanding is that the people around him were trying, with great success, to crack him up - RBW]. But clearly the song remained current in pop culture as well as folk culture. It was also reputed to have been popular among collegiates. - PJS
"Hang my harp on a willow tree" may be taken from Psalms 137.2 [King James] via Thomas Haynes Bayly. Cf. "I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree."
Broadside Bodleian Firth b.28(6a/b) View 7 of 8 ascribes "There Is A Tavern In The Town" to W.H. Hills. - BS
Somewhere in my youth, someone (probably school authorities) forced upon us a game, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." Thirty-odd years later, I recalled it for some reason, and realize that the tune is an up-tempo version of this. If the song was inflicted upon other classes than mine, it may be that the song has had some sort of horrid second life. - RBW
Amy Birch's version on Voice11 has a first line "Over yonder's hill there is an old house" but continues to be enough like "Tavern in the Town" that I put it here rather than Laws P25 or any of the other songs in this cluster.
GreigDuncan6 [on #1169]: "Noted by George F. Duncan from mother's singing in 1875." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: ShH94

Taxation of America


DESCRIPTION: "While I relate my story, Americans give ear, Of Britain's fading glory You presently shall hear." The singer tells the "true relation" or "the taxation of North America." "North, and Bute his father" propose to tax the Americas, but the Americans rebel
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Spaeth)
KEYWORDS: money patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1760-1820 - Reign of George III
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 3-5, "Taxation of America" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 477, "American Taxation" (source notes only)
Roud #3687
NOTES: After the French and Indian War (Seven Year's War, for which see "Brave Wolfe"), Britain faced both a new obligation (the need to administer Quebec) and a huge financial burden (a national debt of 122,603,336 pounds, according to Middlekauff, p. 57. And Britain had been taxed to the hilt. So attempts were made to gain additional money from the American colonies.
It's interesting to note that the Spaeth text never says *what* tax North and Bute wished to gather. As a matter of fact, the taxes on the Americans were quite mild compared to what the British suffered, and in many cases the British actually lowered the duties (e.g. the tariff on imported molasses was cut in half) -- it's just that the administration would actually attempt to *collect* the taxes, which had been widely evaded (Middlekauff, p. 61). The amounts were trivial (the most optimistic projection was 200,000 pounds per year, according to Middlekauff, p. 62, which wouldn't even cover the interest on the British debt, and most estimates were in the 75,000 pound range).
Given the overall incompetence of this song (which seems to have been known only from broadside and perhaps the Guernsey manuscript), it strikes me as quite possible that the author didn't *know* what taxes caused the colonists to revolt. For a song on the subject that's a little closer to actual reality, see "Old Granny Wales (Granny O'Whale, Granua Weal)."
Among those mentioned in Spaeth's text of this piece:
"North": Lord Frederick North, second Earl of Guilford (1732-1792). A political success from an early age, he became First Lord of the Treasury (in effect, prime minister) in 1770; he was the leader most responsible for the increased friction between the government and the colonies, though he was perhaps more willing to compromise than the ministers under him -- certainly more so than the King he served.
North repeatedly tried to find solutions for the American problems, or failing that to resign (Cook, pp. 294-295), but George III would not release him because North was the only man with enough clout to form a government who also would go along with George's wishes. North finally was allowed to leave office after Yorktown, when the opposition in parliament became so strong that North simply could not maintain a government. (Cook, pp. 357-358, says George tried to keep him on even then, but North knew the confidence motion was coming, and quit.) The American mess really wasn't his fault; it was George III's. But it was easy to blame things on North.
Ironically, North would briefly return to the government, working with Charles James Fox, in effect in opposition to George III (February 1783; Cook, p. 375); this was the government that in September finally ratified the peace with the U. S. -- though it might have come some months earlier had not the Fox/North coalition interfered with the work of the previous Shelburne government. The King hated the Fox/North team so much that he called upon 24-year-old William Pitt the Younger to form a government in December (Cook, p. 377)
"Bute his father": Presumably John Stuart, Third Earl of Bute (1713-1792). He wasn't North's father, but he was Prime Minister 1762-1763. His brief period of power, however, had little effect on colonial relations that I can see, though he was personally close to George III, to whom he had once been tutor. (Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 115, even speculates that "perhaps [George III's] deep devotion for the handsome and elegant Lord Bute was not entirely platonic," though he offers no evidence for this. Given how straitlaced George III was, I rather doubt that particular implication -- especially given his myriad children.)
It's just possible that we should re-reference the pronoun and treat "his father" not as North's father but as George III's. Borneman,p. 264, does say that George "idealized" Bute and implies that George may have treated him as a father-figure (George's father Frederick had died when George was 13, and in any case there was an unwritten law in the Hannoverian dynasty that fathers and their heirs always despised each other).
A third possibility is that the remark "Bute, his father" is a slam at George III's legitimacy. Middlekauff, p. 20, has much to say of Bute, "a Scot, the advisor -- not, as some whispered, the love -- of George's mother." Obviously the song might have been making the whispers explicit. However, there is no evidence of a relationship between the two -- and George III had clear resemblances to his Hannoverian ancestors.
Middlekauff adds, "For the next five years [Bute] served as the prince's tutor and friend. The friendship seems to have developed easily -- in part, we may suppose, because George craved affection and kindness and Bute responded with both. Yet... Bute held the upper hand: he was twenty-five years older, strongly opinionated, obviously intelligent, and he was in charge of the prince's education. Although Bute possessed the learning required, he was not a good teacher.... Bute himself knew much but did not understand men or human conduct.... Master and pupil then and later commonly mistook inflexibility for personal strength and character" (p. 20).
The colonies blamed Bute for the much-hated Stamp Act, but in fact it was proposed by Grenville after Bute had ceased to be Prime Minister. At worst, Bute's responsibility was indirect: As Prime Minister, he had created a plan to have the colonies pay for the troops based there (Middlekauff, p. 51). This is obviously reasonable, if you assume a standing army was needed there (and it probably was, with rebellious Canada to the north, Spanish Florida to the south, and constant conflicts with the Indians to the west as colonists kept trying to grab Indian land; Middlekauff, p. 54) -- but George III and Bute's successors refused to consult with the colonies about how to raise this money. By contrast with his predecessor William Pitt, who had been largely responsible for beating the French in Canada, Bute must have seemed a great disappointment.
"Green" (sic.): Presumably Nathaniel Greene (1742-1786), largely responsible for the success of the Colonial campaigns in the south after he succeeded Gates in 1780 (Jameson, p. 279).
Gates: Horatio Gates (c. 1728-1806), the theoretical victor at the key battle of Saratoga, though hindsight shows that he really had little to do with it; he was later appointed to command in the south, but botched matters and had to be relieved by Greene (Jameson, p. 260).
Putnam: Probably Israel Putnam (1718-1790), though it might be his cousin Rufus (1738-1824). Neither was a great success (in fact, both were rather disastrously bad officers), but Israel Putnam was still popular in 1779 when he was paralyzed and had to retire from the military (Jameson, pp. 534-535).
Conquering Washington: Presumably you know who he is. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: CG477a

Taxes, The


DESCRIPTION: "There never was such taxes in Ireland before." There are seven verses of things to be taxed. "They'll double tax the hobble skirts and table up some laws, But the devil says he'll tax them if he gets them in his claws"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: humorous political
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 4, "The Taxes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3033
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sales Tax On the Women" (theme)
NOTES: The British government was notorious for the number of fees it charged (recall that this was the cause of the American revolution). My guess, though, is that this comes from the period of the Napoleonic Wars. For one thing, Ireland lost its independent parliament after the 1798 rising. For another, the British government, which hated deficits, had to raise revenue dramatically to keep up its war spending. The result was a long list of new taxes. - RBW
File: OLoc004

Tay Bridge, The


DESCRIPTION: "The Tay bridge is broken and I'm come to mend it"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonballad river
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1621, "The Tay Bridge" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #13075
File: GrD81621

Tay, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer warns young men against women overly dependent upon tay (tea). He works and earns a good living, but his wife wastes the money on tay. At last he breaks kettle and pot. She attacks him; he gives in and lets her have her tay
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous husband wife fight warning
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H25a, pp. 502-503, "The Tay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1310
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wee Cup of Tay" (theme)
File: HHH25a

Teach the Rover


DESCRIPTION: Teach, an outlaw captain, goes to Carolina after the Act of Grace, but soon turns pirate. Finally he is overtaken by Maynard's crew. In the desperate battle that follows, Maynard boards the pirate ship and himself kills Teach
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: pirate battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1717 - Act of Grace pardons most of the Jacobite leaders of the 1715 rebellion.
1718 - Lieutenant Robert Maynard's frigate captures the pirate ship of Edward Teach. Teach is shot in the fighting
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
PBB 78, "Teach the Rover" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 166, "The Downfall of Piracy" (1 text)
ST PBB078 (Partial)
Roud #8115
NOTES: Edward Teach is the actual name of the pirate usually known as "Blackbeard." (At least, "Teach" is the name he acknowledged; Hendrickson, p. 208, mentions a report that he was born Edward Drummond.) This song agrees with The General History of Pirates (usually attributed to Daniel Defoe, but this is now much doubted) in describing him as quite successful and bloody, but available records (such as the log of a ship the History asserts fought against Teach) seem to indicate that much of the History's account is fiction (e.g. DictPirates, p. 26, says that the History "combined fact and fiction," declaring that "To straightforward reporting of Teach's adventures, Defoe added lurid stories portraying him as a horrifying monster.")
What is fact is that Teach's short career did not yield many rich prizes, and the records do not indicate that he harmed his victims.
According to Herman, pp. 248-249, Teach was a Bristolman who had fought in the War of the Spanish Succession. He made his base in the maze that was North Carolina's Outer Banks, making it hard for large ships to pursue him. This kept him safe from the two Royal Navy sloops of war sent to hunt him down, but the captain of the Pearle sent Lt. Maynard aboard a small boat to catch Teach. Their battle, on November 21, was fought in conditions of no wind, so apart from one broadside Teach managed to fire at the navy force, it was all hand-to-hand combat.
Reportedly Teach's body had been pierced by five pistol shots and 25 sword wounds. But the corpse was beheaded and the body thrown overboard, so this cannot be proved.
But, of course, what counts is not what actually happened but what people thought happened. Amazing stories were legend -- e.g. that Blackbeard's body, after it was thrown in the sea, swam around the ship several times before sinking (Hendrickson, p. 209). There was also a report that he married 14 different women (Hendrickson, p. 208), although few of them seem to have been named. And then there is the hair. Cordingly, p. 13, quotes the History as follows:
"Captain Teach assumed the cognomen of Black-beard, from that large quantity of hair, which, like a frightful meteor, covered his face, and frightened America more than any other comet that has appeared for a long time.
"This beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length; as to breadth, it came up to his eyes; he was accustomed to twist it with ribbons... and turn them about his ears; in time of action, he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers, and stuck lighted matches under his hat, which appearing on both sides of his face, his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild, made him altogether such a figure, that imagination cannot form an idea of a fury, from Hell, to look more frightful."
Brumwell/Speck, p. 293, report a legend that he drank his rum spiked with gunpowder.
Some of this, like the part about the matches, is probably exaggerated (DictPirates, p. 26, says that Teach's "bizzare beard and clothing [were] not mentioned by anyome who met Teach"), but Cordingly, pp. 13-14, quotes several sources supporting his long beard tied with ribbons.
There was, according to Cordingly, p. 24, a successful (but far from accurate) play from 1798 called "Blackbeard, or The Captive Princess." I don't know if it influenced this song; it doesn't sound like it would have. Robert Louis Stevenson's Master of Ballantrae (1889) is perhaps a more likely influence. DictPirates, pp. 27-28, mentions movies allegedly about Teach ("Blackbeard the Pirate," 1952, and "Blackbeard's Ghost," 1968); these obviously had no effect on tradition.
According to Firth, the earliest version of this is from The Worcester Garland, a copy of which is in the British Library (1162.c.4 [89]). But he offers no date. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: PBB078

Teams at Wanapitei, The


DESCRIPTION: "In eighteen hundred and ninety-five Away to the woods we thought we'd strike... To go to work at Wanapitei." The song briefly describes the trip to the woods, and the work -- but most of the song is devoted to the horses in the teams
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work lumbering horse
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont,West)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #21, "The Teams at Wanapitei" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #4463
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "How We Got to the Woods Last Year" (tune)
File: FowL21

Teamster in Jack MacDonald's Crew, The


DESCRIPTION: Leslie Stubbs was a teamster "who came to the lumberlands his family to maintain," He complains of headache and becomes sick. MacDonald and Tom Proctor take him home to his wife in Sherman Mills. Doctor Harris cannot save him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: death lumbering disease doctor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 23, 1908 - death of Earl Stubbs
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 165-167, 256, "The Teamster in Jack MacDonald's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13997
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "Earl Stubbs, aged 28, having contracted spinal meningitis in a lumbercamp, died at his home in Sherman Mills, Maine, January 23, 1908, and Dr Francis Harris had signed the death certificate" - BS
File: IvDC165

Teapots at the Fire, The


DESCRIPTION: A midnight fire at Labor Union Hall. As the fire burns to the basement the local women, who are named, have their eyes on the teapots. Now, "In every home in St John's town, If you go in today, You'll find a fancy teapot in a cupboard stowed away."
AUTHOR: John Burke
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Blondahl)
KEYWORDS: theft fire humorous moniker
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Blondahl, p. 27, "The Teapots at the Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kelligrews Soiree" (tune)
cf. "Mariposa" (theme)
cf. "The Middlesex Flora" (theme)
cf. "The Old Mayflower" (theme)
cf. "The Irrawaddy" (theme)
File: Blon027

Tearin' Out-a Wilderness


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

Teasing Songs


DESCRIPTION: A teasing song hints of a bawdy or ribald rhyme, but avoids it at the last minute, as in this example: Suzanne was a lady with plenty of class / Who knocked the boys dead when she wiggled her... Eyes at the fellows as girls sometimes do...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1615 (The Percy Folio Manuscript has one such teasing song, "A Friend of Mine.")
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cray, pp. 256-265, "Suzanne Was a Lady," "The Ship's in the Harbor," "There Once Was a Farmer," "Two Irishmen, Two Irishmen"; "Sweet Violets" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 649-652, "The Handsome Young Farmer" (7 texts)
DT, SWTVILT2
Roud #10404
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "Frankie and Johnny" (Zest record, matrix FJ, n.d.)
Ben Light & his Surf Club Boys, "The Girl from Atlantic City" (Hot Shots from Hollywood 0317/Hollywood Hotshots 317/Good Humor 2/Good Humor 10A/Good Humor unnumbered [the Good Humor records are anonymous]/Arrow 311/Kicks 5 /Kicks unnumbered [as "The Gal from Atlantic City"]/blank label, unnumbered [anonymoous; as "Atlantic City"], rec. 1936; on Doity1)
Anonymous singers, "Mamie Had A Baby" (on Unexp1)
Callahan Brothers, "Sweet Violets" (Perfect 6-07-51/Conqueror 8682, 1936)
Bob Dickson, "Sweet Violets" (Victor 23633, 1930)
Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock, "Sweet Violets" (on McClintock02)
Norman Phelps & his Virginia Rounders, "Sweet Violets" (Decca 5191, 1936)
Joel Shaw, "Sweet Violets" (Crown 3271, 1932)
Dinah Shore, "Sweet Violets" (RCA Victor 20-4174, 1951)
Sweet Violet Boys [pseud. for Prairie Ramblers], "I Haven't Got a Pot to Cook In" (Vocalion 03402, 1937); "Sweet Violets" (Vocalion 03110, 1935); "Sweet Violets No. 2" (Vocalion 03256, 1936); "Sweet Violets No. 3" (Vocalion 03587, 1937)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Peter Murphy's Little Dog"
cf. "Down on the Farm"
cf. "At Brighton"
cf. "Shine Your Buttons With Brasso"
cf. "Butcher Town"
cf. "The Girl from Atlantic City"
NOTES: Legman lumps all teasing songs together under the generic title of "The Handsome Young Farmer." - EC
I do the same thing because I can't tell them apart otherwise. (Hey, I got this job because nobody else would take it, not because I knew what I was doing.) - RBW
File: EM256

Teddy McGraw


See Mrs. McGrath (File: MA126)

Teddy O'Neal


See Teddy O'Neill (File: DTtedone)

Teddy O'Neill


DESCRIPTION: The singer has a dreadful dream of Teddy courting another girl. She recalls where they used to meet. They cannot meet now; he has gone across the sea to seek his fortune. She would rather he were still present, even if poor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3747))
KEYWORDS: love courting separation emigration poverty dream
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
O'Conor, p. 14, "Teddy O'Neal" (1 text)
DT, TEDONEIL
Roud #5207
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3747), "Teddy O'Neale", J. Harkness (Preston)), 1840-1866; also Firth c.22(91), Harding B 11(3645), "Teddy O'Neale"; Firth b.28(6a/b) View 6 of 8, "Teddy O'Neal"; also 2806 c.15(168), Harding B 19(30), "Teddy O'Neile"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Maggie of Coleraine" (tune)
cf. "The Girls of Coleraine" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Maggie of Coleraine (File: HHH657)
The Girls of Coleraine (File: HHH064)
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides reverse the first two verses so that the first line is "I went to the cabin ..." and the second verse begins "I dreamt but last night ..." - BS
File: DTtedone

Teem Wa's, The (The Toom House)


DESCRIPTION: "Come hark a while, and I will speak Yonder's a house where I never saw reek." The young man who owns it explains that "the lasses they're so very scant." Assured that he can find a woman if he tries, he vows that there will be life in the house soon
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: home rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1394, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Teem Wa's" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, pp. 89-91, "The Teem Wa's" (1 text)
Roud #3859
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Hoosie Wantin' Reek
File: Ord089B

Teetotal Mill, The


DESCRIPTION: Tom and Bill are "discussing the merits of brandy and gin." Tom tells of the Teetotal Mill where you go to give up drink. After a test "you're very soon cured." They go to the mill and see drunken wrecks enter and come out healthy and happy. They cheer.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(016))
KEYWORDS: drink dialog friend
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #144, pp. 1-2, "The Teetotal Mill" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 602, "The Teetotal Mill" (1 text)
Roud #5890
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(172)[some words illegible], "The Teetotal Mill" ("Two jolly old topers once sat in an inn"), R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 1849-1859; also Harding B 11(3751), Harding B 20(166), "The Teetotal Mill"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(016), "The Teetotal Mill," R. M'Intosh (Glasgow), 1849
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Villikens and His Dinah" (tune, per Greig)
NOTES: Broadsides NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(016) and Bodleian 2806 c.14(172) are duplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3602

Telegraph Wire, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, dear me, the world's on fire, news sent around on a telegraph wire! Lord have mercy, only think, news sent to Mexico quicker than a wink! Oh dear, what shall I do? Every year brings something new!" A catalog of marvels and changes of the modern age
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: technology
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1752 and following - Franklin's experiments with lightning
1844 - Samuel Morse installs the first electromagnetic telegraph
1857, 1858, 1866 - Cyrus Field attempts to lay a transatlantic cable. (The 1857 attempts failed, the 1858 cable was briefly operational; the 1866 cable was the first true success)
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 75, "The Telegraph Wire" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa075 (Partial)
File: Wa075

Tell It to Me


See Take a Whiff on Me (File: RL130)

Tell Me Dear Lassie the' Wye for to Woo


DESCRIPTION: "O tell me my bonny young lassie ... how for to woo." May I praise "your red cheeks like the morning," "lips like the rose when it's moistened wi' dew," and "een's pauky [lively] scorning"?
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 909, "Tell Me Dear Lassie the' Wye for to Woo" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #6143
NOTES: GreigDuncan4 text is one verse on pp. 575-576 copied from Johnson, The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1803), song 540. The description is based on this fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4909

Tell Me Lassie Will Ye Tak' Me


DESCRIPTION: After "we courted mony an hoor" a shepherd asks a lass to marry. He points to his sheep, house, and wealth. She says she has not decided and is too young. He says "The morn I'll draw up with Mary." She says "Here's my hand that I will tak' you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting farming money dialog youth
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #171, p. 2, "Tell Me, Lassie, Will Ye Tak' Me?" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 859, "Tell Me Lassie Will Ye Tak' Me" (1 text)
Roud #6252
File: GrD4859

Tell Me What Month Was My Jesus Born In?


See What Month Was Jesus Born In? (File: CNFM245)

Tell My Jesus "Morning"


DESCRIPTION: "In the morning when I rise, Tell my Jesus huddy (howdy?), oh. I wash my hands in the morning glory, Tell my Jesus huddy, oh." "Morning, Hester, morning, gal." "Say, brother Sammy, you got the order." "Pray, Tony, pray, boy, you got the order."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (W. F. Allen, Slave Songs of the United States)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 15, "Tell My Jesus 'Morning'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11845
File: AWG015A

Tell Old Bill


DESCRIPTION: "Tell old Bill, when he leaves home this morning, Tell old Bill, when he leaves home this evening, Tell old Bill... To let them downtown coons alone...." (An hour after) Bill left he is dead/murdered and being brought home in a "hurry-up wagon"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: death whore murder
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 18-19, "Dis Mornin', Dis Evenin', So Soon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 100-102, "Old Bill" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 78, "Tell Old Bill" (1 text)
DT, OLDBILL*
Roud #7876
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No Use Workin' So Hard" (structure, refrain)
File: San018

Tell Your Horse's Age


DESCRIPTION: Detailed instructions for determining a horse's age from its teeth, beginning "To tell the age of any horse, Inspect the lower jaw, of course," and ending "They longer get, project before, Till twenty, when we know no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 ("Bit and Spur")
KEYWORDS: horse age nonballad recitation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 74, "Tell Your Horse's Age" (1 text)
File: Ohr074

Temperance Song (I)


See Drunkard's Doom (I), The (File: R306)

Temperance Song (II)


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

Tempest, The (Cease Rude Boreas)


DESCRIPTION: "Cease rude Boreas blustering killer... Messmates hear a brother sailor Sing the dangers of the sea." A storm comes up; the crew struggles mightily to survive. The mast falls, the ship leaks; they make it home and rejoice
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Journal from the Galaxy)
KEYWORDS: storm disaster ship sea
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 70-72, "The Tempest" (1 text)
Roud #949
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Storm
Cease Rude Boreas
File: SWMS070

Tempy


See I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground (File: BAF900)

Ten Broeck and Mollie


See Molly and Tenbrooks [Laws H27] (File: LH27)

Ten Commandments, The


See Green Grow the Rushes-O (The Twelve Apostles, Come and I Will Sing You) (File: ShH97)

Ten Days of Finals, The


DESCRIPTION: On successive days of final examinations, the singer's true love gives to him a special gift.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy parody humorous cumulative derivative
FOUND IN: Canada US(MW,SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 373-374, "The Ten Days of Finals" (2 texts)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (tune)
File: EM373

Ten Dollar Bill, The


See The Brisk Young Butcher (File: DTxmasgo)

Ten Little Indians (II)


DESCRIPTION: "One, two, three, little Indians, ... Ten, little Indian boys." Game steps: "Open your gates and let us through"; "Not without your beck and bow"; "Here's our beck and there's your bow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonballad Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1601, "Ten Little Indian Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12976
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Little Indians (John Brown Had a Little Indian)" (one verse)
File: GrD81601

Ten Little Indians (John Brown Had a Little Indian)


DESCRIPTION: "John Brown he had a little Indian (x3), One little Indian boy." "One little, two little, three little Indians, four little, five little, six little Indians, Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians, Ten little Indian boys"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: nonballad Indians(Am)
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 594, "John Brown Had a Little Indian" (1 text)
BrownIII 136, "John Brown Had a Little Injun" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 241-242, (no title) (1 short text, consisting of this chorus counted forward then backward; John Brown is not mentioned)
Fuld-WFM, p. 205, "Drunken Sailor (Monkey's Wedding -- John Brown Had a Little Injun -- Ten Little Injuns)"
cf. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #597, p. 237, "(Tom Brown's)"
Roud #4993
RECORDINGS:
Doreen Elliott, "Old Joe Badger" (on Elliotts01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunken Sailor" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "Old Brass Wagon" (tune)
cf. "Ten Little Injuns" (chorus)
cf. "Ten Little Indians (II)" (one verse)
NOTES: Of the Mother Goose item "Tom Brown's Two little Indians," the Baring-Goulds write, "Whether or not this rhyme inspires the writing of 'Two Little Injuns...' is an interesting speculation." I must say that they are quite close -- close enough that pure coincidence seems unlikely. For more background, see the notes to "Ten Little Injuns." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R594

Ten Little Injuns


DESCRIPTION: Ten Indians stand in a line, one goes home and there are nine. Each disappears in a new way until only one is left. The last one lives alone until "he got married and then there were none"
AUTHOR: Septimus Winner (1868), with adaptions by Frank Green and others
EARLIEST DATE: 1868 (S Winner, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: humorous Black(s) Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 376, "Ten little nigger boys went out to dine" (2 texts); 511, "Tom Brown's two little Indian boys" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #818, pp. 304-305, "(Ten little Injuns standin' in a line)"
Roud #13512
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1572), "Ten Little Niggers" ("Ten little niggers going out to dine"), unknown, n.d.; also Firth c.16(335), Firth b.27(94), "Ten Little Niggers"; Firth c.16(334), "Ten Little Ministers" ("Ten little ministers, sitting in a line"), unknown, 1874; also Johnson Ballads fol. 386a, "A new version of a popular song"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer" (counting)
cf. "Eight Little Cylinders" (counting)
cf. "Ten Little Indians" ("John Brown Had a Little Indian") (chorus)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2 511 is one verse "Tom Brown's two little Indian boys; One ran away, The other wouldn't stay, Tom Brown's two little Indian boys." (Opie-Oxford2 has an early date c.1744 from Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book).
The Opie-Oxford2 376 texts are "Ten little nigger boys went out to dine" and "Ten little Injuns standin' in a line."
Opie-Oxford2 376 lists the following names and publication dates of adaptations:
"Ten Little Niggers" Feb. 1869 [According to the Baring-Goulds, this is by Frank Green. The Opies say it might have been written in late 1868 - RBW]
"Ten Little Negroes" Mar. 1869
"Ten Little Darkies" June 1869
"The Ten Youthful Africans" Sep. 1869
"Ten Little Darkies" c.1870
"Ten Little Negro Boys" Dec. 1874
The things that reduce the number vary from text to text. So, for example, for the ministers of broadside Johnson Ballads fol. 386a, the last minister "was so very Low, Everybody told him they thought he'd better go." For broadside Harding B 11(1572) the last one gets married and raises a family of ten more.
Some versions, including Winner's original, share the chorus with "Ten Little Indians" ("John Brown Had a Little Indian").
See Tim Coughlan, Now Shoon the Romano Gillie, (Cardiff,2001), #165, pp. 437-441, "Yeck Bitto Rom'ni Chal Churyin ap a Ruck" ["One little Gypsy boy climbing up a tree"] [Romani-English text reported by Leland, English Gypsy Songs (1875)]. Coughlan: "Leland's informant seems to have been remarkably quick off the mark. [Septimus] Winner's original set was published in London in July 1868..... Also included by Leland is a second set from the pen of Hubert Smith .... ["Desh Tani Chavis Duriken," also quoted by Coughlan from Leland]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OO2376

Ten Little Nigger Boys Went Out To Dine


See Ten Little Injuns (File: OO2376)

Ten Stone


DESCRIPTION: Windlass shanty. "I nebber seen de like sence I ben born! Way, ay, ay, ay, ay! Nigger on de ice an a hoein' up corn, Way, ay, ay, ay, ay! Ten stone! ten stone! ten stone de win' am ober, Jenny get along, Jenny blow de horn, as we go marchin ober!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Bullen & Arnold, _Songs of Sea Labor_)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong sailor
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, p. 268, "Ten Stone" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 198]
Roud #9129
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Belong to that Band" (lyrics)
NOTES: This may well be related to the mess of material filed under "I Belong to that Band"; it has some of the same lines, and is utterly disorganized. But the total material found in each is simply too small to be sure. - RBW
File: Hugi268

Ten Thousand Cattle


DESCRIPTION: Perhaps as a result of a bad winter, "Ten thousand cattle have gone astray, Left my range and traveled away." The singer is left destitute. His girl has also left him (for another). Other verses may complain about the weather, his girl's lover, etc.
AUTHOR: Owen Wister (1888?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1904
KEYWORDS: cowboy hardtimes separation disaster
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Larkin, pp. 151-153, "Then Thousand Cattle" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 6, "Ten Thousand Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TENTHOU* TENTHOU2*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 35, #2 (1990), pp, 70-71, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune, included because it's one of the relatively unexpurgated versions)
Roud #5763
NOTES: Reported to have been written by Owen Wister (1860-1938; author of The Virginian plus assorted minor poetry) in 1888 based on the experiences of the dreadful winter of 1886/7 in Wyoming. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ohr006

Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle


See Ten Thousand Cattle (File: Ohr006)

Ten Thousand Miles


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

Ten Thousand Miles Away


DESCRIPTION: "Sing ho! for a brave and a gallant ship, And a fair and fav'ring breeze, With a bully crew and a captain too To carry me over the seas...." The singer wishes for a ship to carry him to his sweetheart, transported to Botany Bay "ten thousand miles away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3763))
KEYWORDS: love separation transportation ship
FOUND IN: Australia US(NE) Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Colcord, pp. 159-161, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 116-118, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 409-410, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 311-312]
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 84-85, 272-273, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 148-149, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 31-32, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 100-101, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 232-233, "Blow the Winds I Oh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 8-9, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #169, p. 2, "Blow Ye Winds" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1102, "Blow Ye Winds, Ay Oh" (6 texts plus a single verse on p. 544, 4 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 86, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text)
DT, THOUSMIL*
Roud #1778
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (on IRRCinnamond03)
Eugene Jemison, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (on Jem01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3763), "Ten Thousand Miles Away" ("Sing oh! for a brave and valiant bark"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Firth c.13(286), 2806 c.16(88), Harding B 16(286c), "Ten Thousand Miles Away"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Capital Ship" (tune & meter)
cf. "Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento)" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Old Palmer Song" (tune)
cf. "Forsaken Folk Maun Live" (tune, per GreigDuncan6)
SAME TUNE:
The Old Palmer Song (File: PASB038)
No More Shall I Work in the Factory (File: Grnw122)
File: MA084

Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River)


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his aged mother "on the banks of a lonely river, Ten thousand miles away." He wishes he (were a little bird so he could be) with her. A letter from his sister says his mother has died; he wishes she were there. He prays for his mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1882 16161)
KEYWORDS: death mother loneliness separation age grief burial mourning family sister
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 697, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 170, "The Homesick Boy" (2 texts)
Roud #3514
RECORDINGS:
Asa Martin & Doc Roberts, "I Must See My Mother" (Champion 16568, 1933; Champion 45176, c. 1935; rec. 1932; on KMM [as Martin & Hobbs])
Fred Redden, "The Banks of Claudy" (on NovaScotia1)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1882 16161, "Ten Thousand Miles Away on the Banks of a Lonely River," Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1882 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "To the West A While to Stay" (plot)
NOTES: Several of Randolph's informants credited this to a Missouri musician named Hubbard. Given the general feebleness of the song, it is quite likely that it comes from such an obscure source. The presence of the North Carolina texts, however, argues that it is not local to the Ozarks. - RBW
Broadside LOCSheet sm1882 16161: "composed by I.M. Williams" whatever that means. Is it a coincidence that the publisher is so close to the Ozarks?
[NovaScotia1] begins "In youth I craved adventure To Australia I did stray, I left my home and mother For a fortune far away, She bade me not to leave her Or to return some day To the banks of far off Claudy Ten thousand miles away." This verse is missing from LOCSheet sm1882 16161, which begins with the letter verse, followed by the dream verse.- BS
File: R697

Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]


DESCRIPTION: The reckless hobo cannot stay still; the sound of a train keeps calling him. (He may become involved with various girls, but even they cannot hold him.)
AUTHOR: (credited to Jimmie Rodgers by John Greenway)
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, George Reneau)
KEYWORDS: railroading train travel rambling floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So,SE)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws H2, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) "
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 355-366, "Waiting for a Train/Wild and Reckless Hobo" (2 texts plus a print from Richard Burnett's songbook and a peculiar "Wabash Cannonball" mix, 2 tune)
Randolph 836, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 456-457, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home" (1 text, 1 tune, which from its form appears to go here although the plot is somewhat different; the singer misses the true love who abandoned him)
Davis-More 29, pp. 221-228, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes; the two longest texts, AA and DD, both contain floating material, in the case of "D" probably from this piece)
BrownII 30, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts, 5 excerpts, 1 fragment, plus mention of two more; the final text, M, probably combined with this piece)
BrownIII 359, "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text); 361, "Waiting for a Train" (1 short text)
Hudson 111, pp. 250-251, "The Railroad Bum" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 128-129, "Ten Thousand Miles From Home" (1 text)
Cambiaire, pp. 3-4, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text); p. 101, "The Railroad Bum" (1 text, which seems to be mixed with other material)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 107-108, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text. Same source as Cambiaire's, though with differences in presentation)
Lomax-AFSB, pp. 28-30, "Ten Thousand Miles from Home" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 42, "Sam's 'Waiting for a Train'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 54, "Danville Girl" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 130, "At the Jail" (2 texts, 1 tune; the result looks to me to be a mix between this and "Logan County Jail," though it's one of those vague cases....)
DT 781, DANVGIRL (DANVILL2)
Roud #699
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Danville Girl" (Brunswick 132B, 1927); (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
[Richard] Burnett & [Leonard] Rutherford, "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Columbia 15240-D, 1928; rec. 1927; on BurnRuth01. KMM)
Vernon Dalhart, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Brunswick 2942, 1925)
Morgan Denmon, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Velvet Tone 2366-V, 1930); "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (OKeh 45327, 1929)
Dixon Brothers, "The Girl I Left in Danville" (Montgomery Ward M-7337, c. 1937/Bluebird B-7674, 1938)
Bill Baker w. Bob Miller's Hinky-Dinkers, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Brunswick 445/Supertone S-2059, 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Danville Girl" (on NLCR06)
Pine Mountain Ramblers [or Virginia Mountain Boomers], "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Champion 15610, 1928; Supertone 9305, 1929)
Charlie Powers, "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (CYL: Edison 5131, n.d.)
George Reneau, "Wild and Reckless Hoboes" (Vocalion 14999, 1925)
Pete Seeger, "Danville Girl" (on PeteSeeger02, PeteSeegerCD01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bigler's Crew" [Laws D8] (meter)
cf. "More Pretty Girls Than One" (words, tune)
cf. "Waiting For a Train (II)" (subject, some lyrics)
cf. "Ninety-Nine Years (I)" (tune)
cf. "A Thousand Miles Away" (words, tune)
SAME TUNE:
"A Thousand Miles Away" (File: PFS213)
NOTES: I question the attribution of this to Rodgers, as it seems to take quite a few forms. It seems more likely that he used floating verses in composing his song, "Waiting for a Train." - PJS
You'll note that I didn't say I believed Rodgers wrote it -- note that it was being parodied around 1900 in "A Thousand Miles Away." Best guess is that he created a recension which became fairly popular. - RBW
Paul Stamler suggests that "The Danville Girl" subtext deserves separate listing, noting that "It has certain verses that set it apart, including the'You bet your life she's out of sight/She wore those Danville curls' and 'She wore her hair on the back of her head/Like high-toned people do.' It's also got floating verses, including some from "Gambling Man...." The difficulty, for me at least, is that none of these are characteristic of the song; I've seen versions without either verse. Thus, while the extremes are different, there is no good way to draw a line. We could simply call all texts which mention Danville "The Danville Girl" -- but there are otherwise identical versions which omit that key name. Plus, the Brown "Wild and Reckless Hobo" text is certainly a "Danville Girl" version, but Laws lists it here. - RBW, PJS
From Alan Lomax's notes to PeteSeeger02, "There are stanzas in this one from so many different hobo songs, sung in so many different ways, that one might call this the master hobo song. Actually I had some hand in mixing the verses together in American Ballads and Folk Songs (Macmillan, 1934), from which this version comes." Can we say, "smoking gun"? - PJS
I wonder if that might explain the Danville Girl mixup, too.... - RBW
Naw. That was already going on when Dock Boggs recorded the song in 1927. - PJS
When I finally read Cohen's notes on this, I thought seriously about sweeping out all the previous notes, since it includes a complex analysis of sources. But I finally decided that Cohen, while authoritative, is not definitive. His opinion is that there were originally three separate songs, which he entitles "Wild and Reckless Hobo," "Waiting for a Train," and "Danville Girl." But he admits so much mixture that drawing sharp lines is impossible. Lumping is generally against our policy, but when splitting forces notes to every version, I'll do lumping. - RBW
File: LH02

Ten Thousand Miles from Home


See Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2] (File: LH02)

Tenaouich' Tenaga, Ouich'ka


DESCRIPTION: Canadian French: A trapper is met by an Indian, who tells him that the comrade from whom he had earlier parted has died. The Indians have (buried/brought) the body. The recurrent word "Ouich'ka" seems to be an attempt to imitate Indian dialect
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (Gagnon)
KEYWORDS: death Indians(Am.) burial Quebec foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 32-33, "Tenaouich' Tenaga, Ouich'ka" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FMB032

Tendemain des Noces, Le (The Song of Marriage)


DESCRIPTION: French. Girl looks ahead to the joy of marriage. After the wedding, she's disillusioned; she will wear the cloak of joyfulness, but the "girdle of sufferance (le cordon de souffriance)". Her mother asks who forced her into marriage. The girl still laments
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (BerryVin)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French. Young girl, walking by the sea, thinks of the pleasures of the marriage bond. After the wedding, she's disillusioned; she will wear the cloak of joyfulness, but the "girdle of sufferance (le cordon de souffriance)". Her mother asks who forced her into marriage, pointing out that she'd been warned. The girl laments leaving her family, saying she will be miserable for the rest of her life.
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage grief homesickness marriage wedding clothes family mother wife
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BerryVin, p. 50, "Le lendemain des noces (The Song of Marriage)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Single Girl, Married Girl" (theme)
cf. "I Wish I Were Singe Again (II - Female)",(theme)
cf. "Do You Love an Apple?" (theme)
cf. "When I Was Young (II)" (theme)
File: BerV050

Tenderfoot, The


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

Tennessee Killer, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh I've killed men in Georgia And men in Alabam', But kill a man in Arkansas And God your soul will damn!" The singer admits to widespread murders, but was taken in Little Rock. Now he will hang. He warns others against guns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution warning
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 175, "The Tennessee Killer" (1 text)
Roud #4101
NOTES: This song is item dE41 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: R175

Tennis Balls, The


See King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France [Child 164] (File: C164)

Tent Poles are Rotten, The


DESCRIPTION: "The tent poles are rotten, and the campfires dead And the possums they ramble in the trees overhead. I'm out on the wallaby, I'm humping my drum..." The singer describes the pleasures and virtues of a wanderer's life
AUTHOR: Words: Henry Lawson (various tunes used)
EARLIEST DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: rambling Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 188-189, "The Tent Poles are Rotten" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE188

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground


See Tenting Tonight (File: RJ19206)

Tenting Tonight


DESCRIPTION: "We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground... Many are the hearts that are weary tonight, wishing for the war to cease... Tenting tonight (x2) Tenting on the old campground" The singer describes how the soldiers are lonely -- and often dying
AUTHOR: Walter Kittredge
EARLIEST DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle death home music
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (8 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 206-209, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 50-51, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 222-223, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text)
Arnett, pp. 86-87, "Tenting Tonight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Krythe 10, pp. 150-157, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 348-349, "Tenting Tonight" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 289, "Tenting On The Old Camp Ground" (1 text)
DT, TENTTNT* (TENTTNT2*)
ST RJ19206 (Full)
Roud #14045
RECORDINGS:
Apollo Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Berliner 4264, 1898)
Colonial Quartet, "Tenting Tonight" (Phono-Cut 5097, c. 1913)
Columbia Stellar Quartet, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground" (Columbia A1808, 1915)
Haydn Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Victor 119, 1900)
Knickerbocker Quartet, "We're Tenting Tonight" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1881, n.d.)
Mount Vernon Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Columbia 15245-D, 1928)
Peerless Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Zon-O-Phone 892, c. 1908) (Emerson 7160, 1917) (Pathe 40032 [as "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground"], 1916)
Pete Seeger, "Tenting Tonight" (on PeteSeeger28)
Frank C. Stanley, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground" (CYL: Edison 8151, 1902)
Sterling Trio, "Tenting Tonight" (Little Wonder 266, 1915)
Unidentified vocal quartet "Tenting To-night on the Old Camp Ground" (Harvard 514, 1903-1906; prob. rec. 1900; Oxford 11964, c. 1906)
SAME TUNE:
Emmett Brand, "Singing on the Old Church Ground" (on MuSouth06)
NOTES: Civil war historian Bruce Catton says that, during the war, this piece was second in popularity only to "When This Cruel War Is Over" among the sad songs. After the war, when the defeatist tone of "Cruel War" made it seem less patriotic, "Tenting Tonight" came to be first in the veterans' hearts.
Walter Kittredge (born 1834) composed this song in 1863 while under the threat of the draft. As it turned out, he was rejected for ill health. Publishers at first rejected the song as not martial enough -- but then it was picked up by the Hutchinson Family, and the rest is history. - RBW
File: RJ19206

Terence McSwiney


See Shall My Soul Pass Through Ireland (File: PGa067)

Terence's Farewell to Kathleen


DESCRIPTION: "So, my Kathleen, you're going to leave me All alone by myself in this place." She is leaving Terence for England. He warns her against the deceitful men. He can't stop her going and when she returns "spaking such beautiful English" he "won't know" her
AUTHOR: Words: Helen Selina Blackwood, Lady Dufferin, Countess Gifford (1807-1867)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1860 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3764))
KEYWORDS: courting separation England nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 89, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen" (1 text)
Roud #3826
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3764), "Terence's Farewell", A. Ryle and Co. (London), 1845-1859; also Firth b.26(248), Harding B 26(638), Firth c.26(121), 2806 c.15(333), Harding B 11(3766), Harding B 11(3767), Firth c.13(267), Firth b.27(99), "Terence's Farewell"
LOCSinging, as113450, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen", H. De Marsan (New York), 1859-1860; also sb40522b, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen"
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as113450: 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
According to [no author listed], The Library of Irish Music (published by Amsco), the tune for this is "The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow." - RBW
File: OCon089

Term Lilt


DESCRIPTION: The singer says her term is over. She's leaving and a new girl will replace her; in six weeks she'll be forgotten. He answers that before three weeks "I'll come and sen' and see ye"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting parting farming dialog nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1518, "Term Lilt" (1 text)
Roud #12947
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "O Bonny Sandy" (two verses)
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 (Greig quoting Bell Robertson): "Her mother said above was sung by girls when near a term and they were to flit. Thinks there had never been any more." That is significant because, as GreigDuncan8 notes, these two verses are very close to two verses of "O Bonny Sandy" but "evidently had an independent life." If not for this statement I would have considered this a fragment of "O Bonny Sandy."
Seasonal hiring of servants and farm workers usually was for six months, beginning May and November, and the term day marked the end of the employment period. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81518

Term, The


See The Dying Ploughboy (File: McCST108)

Terra Nova Seal Fishing


DESCRIPTION: "Ye talk o' this, and talk o' that... But list taw me -- I ken ye weel Wad like tae hear aboot the seal." The singer describes the difficulties of sailing north to the ice, the difficulties of killing adult seal; he ends by describing the types of pelts
AUTHOR: Robert Brown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Harbour Grace Standard)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship nonballad recitation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, pp. 27-28, "Terra Nova Seal Fishing" (1 text)
File: RySm027

Terra Nova, The


DESCRIPTION: "One Monday morning March the tenth, it opened fine and clear." "Slob ice" was to be seen, but Captain Kean still takes the Terra Nova sealing. Blocked by a pan, three men die before they escape. The song describes the three dead men
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (collected from Norman Payne by Halpert & Fiander)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship death
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 98, "The Terra Nova" (1 text)
File: RySm098

Terrible Privateer, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer's ship sails from Plymouth and is intercepted by the Terrible. The fight continued until "our captain and our men being slain, We could no longer the fight maintain." Twenty-seven are held in prison until "the Carteel did fetch us away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: battle prison rescue death sea ship sailor
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(18)[some words illegible], "The Terrible Privateer" ("You sailors all of courage bold"), printer barely legible but probably J. Pitts, Seven Dials, (n.d. but if it is by Pitts it must be from before 1844)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Coulston" (plot)
cf. "Warlike Seaman (The Irish Captain)" (plot)
cf. "The Dolphin" (plot)
cf. "The French Privateer" (plot)
NOTES: There seem to have been at least two songs about this incident, this one and one called "Captain Death." Both appear on the same semi-legible Bodleian broadside, and they are printed together in the Publications of the Navy Records Society by C. H. Firth available on Google Books (p. 204 in the print copy; p. 335 of the Google Books PDF file). Logan, The Pedlar's Pack, prints another text of "Captain Death" on pp. 30-31.
According to the online book How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves, by W. H. G. Kingston, this refers to an incident of the Seven Years' War. The Terrible, 26 guns, commanded by Captain Death (really! -- though his true name seems to have been "Osborn"), had already taken one prize, but had suffered in the fight and was defeated by another privateer, the Vengeance of St. Malo; Death and half his crew were killed in the battle.
The story of the Terrible so aroused the British that a subscription was raised which eventually bought the freedom of the remaining privateers.
Logan's version of the legend is even more amazing than that of the broadsides: The Terrible "was equipped at Execution Dock, commanded by CaptainDeath. The appellation of his Lieutenant was Devil, and the surgeon's name was Ghost.." Logan does note that Ritson thought this catalog of coincidences "entirely void of foundation." - RBW
File: BdTerPri

Terrier Dog, The


DESCRIPTION: The terrier pup has a distinguished career of extreme viciousness -- until it encounters an oversized cat. The pup's owner, seeing his dog killed, demands satisfaction of the cat's owner. She shoots him; though cured, he "never... raise[d] another pup."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870
KEYWORDS: animal dog fight death
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 123, "The Terrier Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC123 (Partial)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Terrier Pup
File: FSC123

Terrier Pup, The


See The Terrier Dog (File: FSC123)

Terry Toole's Cabbage


DESCRIPTION: "Torbay boys and did ye hear..." a goat got into Terry O'Toole's cabbage. Terry stabbed it to death and the boys dressed it "on the sly." They chipped in for the $3.50 fine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: animal food punishment
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, p. 100, "Terry Toole's Cabbage" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9958
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Moose Song" (plot)
NOTES: Torbay is about seven miles north of St John's - BS
File: Pea100

Testament, The


DESCRIPTION: "Farewell my wife, my joy in life, I freely now do give thee My whole estate" which is very meager: a piece of soap, a frying pan, a broken pail, greasy hat, old tom cat.... "Don't cry ... Another spouse comes by-and-by, with money in his breeches"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: poverty bequest lastwill death humorous nonballad husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 702, "The Testament" (1 text)
Roud #6118
File: GrD3702

Teuchar Howe


DESCRIPTION: Singer says he'll never see the like of the Teuchar Howe girl he loves "and dearly she lo'es me": "her fortune's in her face sae fair." He would rather a "lass wi' a hert sincere" to "them wha wed for gear ... Their siller ... soon will wear awa"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 942, "Teuchar Howe" (1 text)
Roud #6756
NOTES: GreigDuncan5: "Teuchar Howe is south-east of Turriff." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD5942

Texarkana Mary


DESCRIPTION: "Wo, Texarcana (Ida/Mary), holl'rin, Wo, Lord. Wo, Texarkana Ida, Godamighty, God knows." "Won't you help me to call 'em." "I'm goin' crazy in the bottom." "Oh, Mary got married." "She married old Raymond." "Tell me, who is that devil?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (recorded from Jesse Hendricks by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison work separation marriage hardtimes
FOUND IN: USISo)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 265-267, "Texarkana Mary" (2 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Godamighty Drag" (lyrics)
NOTES: As with so much else in Jackson, it is hard to tell where one song ends and the next begins. Jackson lumps two texts together here, splitting them from the song he calls "Godamighty," even though he admits that the "B" text of "Texarkana Mary" (which never mentions Texarkana or Mary) stands between the two songs. I could make a case for filing this "B" text with that song, or lumping the whole bunch -- or splitting this and "Godamighty" into at least four songs. But because the whole thing is such a mess, I've followed Jackson's split, except that I lumped the various "Godamighty" songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: JDM265

Texas


DESCRIPTION: "We'll travel on together Till you and I must part, So fare you well, my honey, my love, I love you to my heart." The singer says he will die when they are parted; and rejoices when she returns; "We'll travel on together... We'll settle down in Texas."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation reunion playparty home
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hudson 156, pp.301-302 , "Texas" (1 text)
Roud #4510
File: Hud156

Texas Cowboy (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you Texas cowboys and warning take by me, Don't go out to Montana for wealth or liberty." The cowboy has worked in all sorts of places, but Montana is colder, you can only work (and so get paid) for six months a year, the food is bad, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 (The Glendive Independent)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work hardtimes warning
FOUND IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Larkin, pp. 65-67, "The Texas Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife VIII, pp. 97-103 (21-22), "The Texas Cowboy" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 31, "The Texas Cowboy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, TXASCWBY*
Roud #4632
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "I'm a Texas Cowboy" (Conqueror 7883, 1931)
File: TF08

Texas Cowboy (II), The


See The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)

Texas Cowboy (III), The


DESCRIPTION: "With a sort of careless swagger, with a movement half a stagger... Is the way the Texas cowboy seems in town." Most of the rest of the song describes how the cowboy responds to various situations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1884 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: cowboy
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "D" text)
Roud #11216
File: FCS035D

Texas Cowboy, The


See Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8] (File: LA08)

Texas Idol, A


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a buzzard from the Brazos on a tear, hear me toot!" The people call him "a pirate from the pampas." He lovingly describes how he abuses and flouts the law in various small towns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1884 (Kansas Cowboy)
KEYWORDS: cowboy outlaw police
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "B" text)
Roud #11215
File: FCW025B

Texas Isle


See The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II) [Laws N9] (File: LN09)

Texas Jack


DESCRIPTION: The singer will "try to tell you the reason why we are bound to roam." The singer was part of a caravan that was attacked by Indians. Only he and two other children were saved by Texas Jack. Brought up among cowboys, he knows no other life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905
KEYWORDS: death battle Indians(Am.) rescue family
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 44, "Texas Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TEXASJCK*
Roud #11211
File: FCW044

Texas Jack (II)


See My Heart's Tonight in Texas [Laws B23] (File: LB23)

Texas Ranger's Lament


See Come List to a Ranger (The Disheartened Ranger) (File: R181)

Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8]


DESCRIPTION: The singer has left family and girlfriend to join a troop that finds itself fighting Indians. Many of the whites are killed; the singer describes the fight and what he left behind.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1874
KEYWORDS: battle Indians(Am.) warning army Civilwar fight violence war mother sister soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 21, 1861 - First battle of Bull Run/Manasses fought between the Union army of McDowell and the Confederates under Johnston and Beauregard. (There was a second Bull Run battle a year later, but "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers" probably refers to this one, since it's the soldier's first battle)
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Laws A8, "The Texas Rangers" (sample text in NAB, pp. 37-38)
Belden, pp. 336-339, "Texas Rangers" (3 texts plus plus mention of 5 more, 1 tune)
Randolph 177, "The Texas Rangers" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes)
Eddy 130, "Come, All Ye Roving Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 95, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
FSCatskills 20, "The Texas Rangers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 105, "Western Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp.44-46, "Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 234, "The Texas Ranger" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more; the "B" text is a Civil War adaption)
Hudson 96, pp. 227-228, "The Texas Cowboy" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 191-192, "The Roving Ranger" (1 text)
Brewster 73, "The Texas Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 179, "Come all ye Southern Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', p. 45, (no title) (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 169, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 134-135, "Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 53, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 73, pp. 163-164, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text)
JHCox 63, "War Song" ( text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 161-162, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 274, "Texas Rangers" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 180-181, "Texas Rangers" (1 text)
DT 363, TEXRANG*
Roud #480
RECORDINGS:
Cartwright Brothers, "Texas Ranger" (Victor V-40198, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4460, 1934; rec. 1929; on AuthCowboys, WhenIWas1)
Paul Joines, "Roving Ranger" (on Persis1)
Sloan Matthews, "The Texas Rangers" (AFS, 1940s; on LC28)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Texas Rangers" (Victor 21487, 1928)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "The Texas Rangers" (Vocalion 5177/Brunswick 168 [as Robert Gardner], 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Texas Rangers" (on NLCR02)
Ernest Stoneman, "The Texas Ranger" (OKeh 45054, 1926); Ernest Stoneman [and Eddie Stoneman], "Texas Ranger" (Vocalion 026320)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers" (words, structure, plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Texas Soldier
NOTES: Laws lists this as a native American ballad, and in its current form, it certainly is. Belden and others, however, note many similarities to British ballads; it is likely an extensive reworking of some earlier piece. - RBW
Digital Tradition notes, "Probably a rewrite of a Civil War song." Bingo; it's almost word-for-word identical to "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers," with only names, places and enemies changed. - PJS
This particular case is rather a conundrum. Paul Stamler supplies this description of "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers," known primarily from collections by Sharp in the North Carolina mountains: "Singer joins the 'jolly band' to fight for the South; their captain warns that before they reach Manassas they'll have to fight. Singer hears the Yankees coming and fears for his life; the battle is bloody and several of his comrades are lost. Singer invokes mothers, sisters, and sweethearts, and warns prospective soldiers that 'I'll tell you by experience you'd better stay at home.'"
That this is recensionally different from "Texas Rangers" is clear; I would normally agree with Paul in splitting the two. Laws, however, explicitly lumps them, and of course Roud does the same. Given how rare "Southern Soldiers" is, I decided to do the same. - RBW
File: LA08

Texas Song


See Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament) (File: FCW066E)

Texian Boys, The


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

Thank You, Ma'am, Says Dan


DESCRIPTION: Courting song in which Dan says "Thank you, ma'am," whatever the girl's mother says. She invites him in; he thanks her. She allows him to marry her daughter. She will stay with her daughter; he will have to support the whole family. He thanks her
AUTHOR: Gerald and Joseph M. Crofts?
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting mother humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H184=689, pp. 469-470, "'Thank You, Ma'am,' Says Dan" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 92, "I Thank You, Ma'am," Says Dan (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3044
NOTES: It would appear that copyright on this song was claimed by the Crofts. Given the various collections containing the song, however, I wonder if they really originated it. - RBW
File: HHH184

That Bloody War


See Battleship of Maine (File: CSW100)

That Crazy War


DESCRIPTION: Singer, drafted into World War I, humorously describes awful experiences, saying everyone (including him) was just trying to avoid getting shot "in that war, that crazy war." In one version, he says that if there's another war he'll be hard to find.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmy Yates & His Boll Weevils)
KEYWORDS: army war France humorous soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1914 - World War I begins in Europe
1917 - U.S. enters World War I
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 102, "That Crazy War" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 275, "That Crazy War" (1 text)
BrownII 239, "That Bloody War" (4 texts, of which "C" and "D," both short, probably belong here; "A" and "B" are "Battleship of Maine")
DT, CRAZYWAR*
Roud #779
RECORDINGS:
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "That Crazy War" (OKeh 06103, 1941)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Crazy War" (on NLCREP2)
Jimmy Yates & His Boll Weevils, "Bloody War" (Victor V-40065, 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Battleship of Maine" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song seems to have been adapted to fit almost every war in existence. It is fitting, though, that it apparently comes from World War I -- the stupidest, most wasteful conflict of them all.
Some of the versions in Brown hint that this ended up mixing with "Battleship of Maine," and Roud apparently lumps them. - RBW
File: CSW102

That Dang Boat that First Took Me Over


DESCRIPTION: Paddy leaves Ireland for Scotland "where everything is free." His father and sweetheart are unhappy and his mother is sure he'll drown. There's a storm. He asks the captain to stop the ship so he can walk home. If he ever gets home he'll not roam again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: farewell home parting sea ship storm Ireland Scotland humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 29, "That Dang Boat that First Took Me Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2907
NOTES: This sounds a bit like it might be a parody on one of the songs in which an Irishman goes to Scotland and falls in love. Examples of that type include "Paddy's Land" and "The Shamrock Shore (The Maid of Mullaghmore)." - RBW
File: MorU029

That Dear Old Land


DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing tonight of a fairyland in the lap of the ocean set.... I'll sing tonight of Ireland's ancient days ... the dear old land, that sweet old land where the beautiful rivers flow." An exile remembers his home and its history.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: homesickness exile Ireland lament nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 70, "That Dear Old Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6368
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: GrMa070

That Is Even So


DESCRIPTION: "When first I heard the people tell Of finding gold in veins... [I] started o'er the plains." On the way west, the food runs short and the train has to winter at Salt Lake. The Mormons treat them badly. The singer advises leaving the "land of gold"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (Put's Golden Songster)
KEYWORDS: gold mining hardtimes travel
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 17, "That Is Even So" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11206
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fools of Forty-Nine" (plot)
File: FCW017

That Last Fierce Charge


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

That Last Fierce Fight


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

That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away


DESCRIPTION: "Woke up this morning, found somethin' wrong, My lovin' babe had caught that train and gone...." The singer asks the depot agent to shut the depot down so she cannot leave. But the girl is lost, and the train "will take you baby and run right over you."
AUTHOR: Words: Probably Charlie McCoy, influenced by the lyrics of "Cow Cow's Blues"/Tune: "Cow Cow's Blues" by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Charlie McCoy)
KEYWORDS: train separation abandonment floatingverses
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 431-434, "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LONETRN
RECORDINGS:
Charlie McCoy, "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (OKeh 8863, 1931?; rec. 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cannonball" (floating verses)
File: LSRai431

That Old Time Religion


DESCRIPTION: "Give me that (or: It's the/that) old time religion (x3), And it's good enough for me." Verses describe those for whom it was good enough: "It was good for Paul and Silas" "It was good for the Hebrew children," "It was good for my dear parents," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1872 ("Jubilee Songs as sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers")
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
BrownIII 640, "That Old-Time Religion" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 91, "The Old Time Religion" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 628, "The Old Time Religion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 438-440, "The Old-Time Religion" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 628)
Silber-FSWB, p. 362, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (1 text)
Roud #6423
RECORDINGS:
The Blue Chips, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (ARC 6-07-60, 1936)
Brother Son Bonds, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Decca 7024, 1934)
Emmett Brand, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (on MuSouth06)
Morris Brown Quartet, "That Old Time Religion" (Bluebird B-8428/Montgomery Ward M-8765, 1940)
Columbia [Male] Quartet, "The Old-Time Religion" (Columbia A-827, 1910; rec. 1909)
Cotton Belt Quartet, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Vocalion 1022, 1926)
Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Brunswick 7100, 1929)
Dixie Jubilee Singers, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Banner 7237/Domino 4220/Challenge 937 [as Jewel Male Quartet], 1928)
Wally Fowler, "Old Time Religion" (Capitol 2182, 1952)
Golden Eagle Gospel Singers, "Gimme That Old Time Religion" (Decca 7314, 1937)
Hampton Institute Quartet, "Ole Time Religion" (Musicraft 233, 1939)
Haydn Quartette, "The Old Time Religion" (Victor 4656, 1906)
Heavenly Gospel Singers, "Old Time Religion" (Bluebird B-8077, 1939; Montgomery Ward M-7871, n.d.)
Jubliee Quartet, "Old Time Religion" (Banner 1550/Regal 9848, 1925; Ajax 31582, n.d.)
Mellowmen, "That Old Time Religion" (Decca 28081, 1952)
Old Southern Sacred Singers, "The Old Time Religion" (Brunswick 161, 1927)
Old-Time Jubilee Singers, "That Old Time Religion" (Perfect 113/Ajax [Can.] 17041, 1924)
Original Valentine Quartet, "Give That Old Time Religion" (OKeh 8135, 1924)
Pace Jubilee Singers, "Old-Time Religion" (Victor 22097, 1929; Bluebird B-5811, 1935; rec. 1928)
Paramount Jubilee Singers, "That Old Time Religion" (Paramount 12073, rec. 1923)
Homer Rodeheaver, "Old Time Religion" (Columbia A-3856, 1923)
Ernest Thompson, "The Old Time Religion" (Columbia 15007-D, 1924)
Tuskegee Institute Quartet, "Old Time Religion" (Victor 18075, 1916; rec. 1915)
Tuskegee Quartet, "The Old Time Religion" (Victor 20519, 1927)
Congregation of Wesley Methodist Church, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (on JohnsIsland1)
SAME TUNE:
Old Time Religion [parody] (DT, OLTIMREL, OLTIMR2, OLTIMR3; on PeteSeeger47)
NOTES: This piece was copyrighted in 1891 by Charlie D. Tillman -- but given that the text sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers was printed in 1880, the claim is obviously bogus.
This seems, for all intents and purposes, to have become a parody of itself of late. All three Digital Tradition versions, for instance, are modern versions praising various improbable deities (I suspect that most of the verses are filk). It's not really surprising, given the excellent tune and the asinine lyrics of the original. - RBW
File: R628

That Pretty Little Gal


See The Girl I Left Behind Me (lyric) (File: R546)

That Rogue Reilly


DESCRIPTION: "There's a boy that follows me every day, although he declares that I use him vilely." He is like "the very shadow at my feet." Her mother sends her away to make hay but Reilly is there. Her aunt recommends a nunnery but she would rather be bothered.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1863 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3382))
KEYWORDS: courting farming
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 57, "That Rogue Reilly" (1 text)
Roud #6980
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3382), "That Raking, Ranting, Reilly", H. Such (London), 1849-1862; also Harding B 11(3231), "The Ranting Reilly"; Harding B 20(144), "Raking, Ranting Reilly"; also Harding B 11(3306), "The Rogue Reilly "
File: OCon057A

That the Stones of the Street May Turn Up the Pig's Feet


DESCRIPTION: "That the stones of the street may turn up the pig's feet If ever I cease to the love. That the tay may come down to three ha'pence a pound If ever I cease to the love"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad parody food
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 9, "That the Stones of the Street May Turn Up the Pig's Feet" (1 fragment)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "If Ever I Cease to Love" (subject and some text)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment.
The fragment is a parody of the "if ever I prove false" theme floating among songs such as "When First Into this Country" and "I Live Not Where I Love." It could be derived from "If Ever I Cease to Love" but the only line shared is "If ever I cease to [the] love." - BS
File: RcSSTUPF

That Tumble Down Shack in Athlone


DESCRIPTION: "IÕm a long way from home and my thoughts ever roam To ould Erin far over the sea." The singer remembers his home in Ireland, says there are people waiting there for him, and looks forward to returning to Athlone
AUTHOR: Words: Richard M. Pascoe / Music: "Monte Carlo" and Alma Sanders
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: home Ireland emigration return
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 66-67, "That Tumble Down Shack in Athlone" (1 text)
Roud #21716
NOTES: This song was apparently popular enough to inspire a movie in 1927, but I have no idea what the film,may have been like. - RBW
File: Dean066

That's All Right


DESCRIPTION: Floating verses: "Mind my mother how you're walking along/Your feet might slip and your soul be lost"; "Hush little baby don't you cry." "Jacob ladder so long and tall." Cho: "That's all right (x2) Since my soul got a seat up in the kingdom...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: mid-1960s (recording, Laura Rivers)
KEYWORDS: warning floatingverses nonballad religious mother
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Laura Rivers, "That's All Right" (on BeenStorm1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Down on Me" (floating verses)
File: RcThAlRi

That's Where My Money Goes


DESCRIPTION: "That's where my money goes, To buy my baby clothes, I'd do 'most any old thing To keep that woman in style. She's worth her weight in gold, My coal-black Venus, Say, boys, that's where my money goes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: money clothes
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 464, "That's Where My Money Goes" (1 short text)
Roud #11797
File: Br3464

Thatchers of Glenrea, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer works in Argyle, then does a quick thatching job in Glrenrea. When it is all done, he at last is able to return to his wife in Ireland, though he has been cheated (?) of some of the money he hoped he would earn. He will not return to Glenrea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: work home separation return reunion money
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H186, pp. 46-47, "The Thatchers of Glenrea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13358
File: HHH186

Then Some wi Pins


DESCRIPTION: A plowing match is described with its problems and swearing. "In spite o' a' difficulties They gaily trudged on Aft times refreshed wi' mountain dew A bannock or a scone." Prizes are announced. "The unsuccessful's never please The judges gets the blame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: contest farming drink food ordeal nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig, "Folk-Song in Buchan," p. 44, ("Then some wi' pins and some wi' props") (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 423, "Then Some wi Pins" (1 text)
Roud #5940
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Ploughing Match
File: GrD3423

Then Turn Out You Jolly Tars


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

Then We'll Have a New Convention


DESCRIPTION: "Katy, Katy, don't you want to marry? Your mother says you shall not marry... Until we kill the turkey hen." "Then we'll have a new convention And we'll kill the turkey hen... And we'll have the rights of man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage political bird
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 370, "Then We'll Have a New Convention" (1 text); also 371, "Colonel Harry, He Was Scared" (1 fragment, probably the same as the above or a parody, though it may be mixed)
Roud #11747
NOTES: The notes in Brown connect this with the Civil War: The "convention" refers to the state conventions called to bring states out of the Union, and the song reportedly was used to recruit soldiers. Which makes sense, though it hardly explains the song. The "turkey hen" presumably refers to the Union, or to Lincoln, but this is hardly a common usage.
The "Colonel Harry" of the second Brown text is unidentifiable in context. And the two songs between them have only eight distinct lines, making it very hard to tell what's going on. But the second looks like it might be a later answer to the first: Brown #370 is a triumphant call for a convention (and hence secession); #371, which mentions a convention of "the volunteers and the drafted men" must have arisen in 1862 or later, as opposition to Confederate policies increased. - RBW
File: Br3370

There Ain't No Bugs on Me


See Ain't No Bugs on Me (File: CSW226)

There Ain't No Flies on Jesus


DESCRIPTION: "There's flies on me, There's flies on you, But there ain't no flies on Jesus."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad bug
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 201, (no title) (1 fragment)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No Bugs on Me" (concept)
NOTES: There is an obvious temptation to link this to "Ain't No Bugs on Me." But, apart from the religious reference, the form seems to imply that they are separate. - RBW
File: ScNF201A

There Cam a Laddie Frae the North


DESCRIPTION: "There cam a laddie frae the north... And he's fa'en in love wi' a bonnie lass That lived in Dundee." He offers to take her north to his home in Strathspey. She refuses; he goes home -- then comes again, asks again, and she consents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage travel home
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #43, p. 2, "The Laddie Frae the North" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 975, "The Laddie Frae the North" (8 texts, 7 tunes)
Ord, pp. 103-105, "There Cam' a Laddie Frae the North" (1 text)
Roud #3951
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bonnie Lass o' Dundee
File: Ord103

There Comes a Fellow with a Derby Hat


DESCRIPTION: Lost love song: "There comes a fellow with a derby hat, They say he's jealous, but what of that? If he is jealous, I am gay; I can get a sweetheart any day." The rest floats -- the blind bird, a request that the sweetheart return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love bird clothes betrayal floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 265, "There Comes a Fellow with a Derby Hat" (1 text)
Roud #15742
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
File: Br3265

There Is a Fountain


DESCRIPTION: "There is a fountain of Christ's blood, Wide open stretch'd for to drown our sins, Where Jesus stands with open arms Of mercy to invite us in."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leather, pp. 197-198, "There Is a Fountain" (4 single-stanza texts, all effectively identical; 4 tunes)
ST Leath197 (Partial)
Roud #663
File: Leath197

There Is a Happy Land


DESCRIPTION: "There is a happy land, far far away, Where saints in glory stand, Bright bright as day, Oh how they sweetly sing, Worthy is our savior king, Loud let his praises ring." The listener is told of the pleasures of heaven and urged not to hesitate
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Young?
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Southern Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fuson, pp. 210, "The Happy Land" (1 text)
DT, HPPYLAND*
Roud #13784
RECORDINGS:
Rufus Crisp, "Brighter Day" (on Crisp01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Know a Boarding-House" (tune, form)
SAME TUNE:
Old Soldiers Never Die (I) (File: FSWB277A)
NOTES: In the Sacred Harp (where it is given with the tune-name "Happy Land"), this melody is said to be derived from Hindu religious music. I know of no supporting evidence.
Roud lumps this with another song with the title "Happy Land," but they do not appear the same to me. - RBW
"Original Sacred Harp" gives a composition date of 1838, but with no citation; pending more research, I'm going with the earliest known printed version. Much parodied, this hymn seems to have been enduringly popular in the south. And elsewhere, as witness, "Cook House," popular among soldiers of the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. We've listed that, more or less, as "Old Soldiers Never Die (I)" - PJS
File: DTtiahl

There Is a Happy Land (II)


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

There Is an Alehouse in Yonder Town


See Tavern in the Town (File: ShH94)

There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven


DESCRIPTION: "There is no place in the height of Heaven, There is no place like home, home, home, sweet home, There is no place like home. Kind friends, I bid you all farewell. I leave you in God's care. And if I never see you any more, I will see you there."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious home separation nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 548, "There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven" (2 short texts)
Roud #11825
NOTES: This steals lines from all over the place ("Home Sweet Home," "Now Our Meeting Is Over," and probably at least one unidentifiable spiritual). But it seems to be a free composition on these themes rather than a version of any of those songs. - RBW
File: Br3548

There Is Somebody Waiting for Me


DESCRIPTION: "Oh the moon shines bright and the stars they give light And the evening invites (you/me) to (stay/stray)." The singer describes (her)self as a bird in a cage, but happily announces "There is somebody waiting... There is somebody waiting for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 741, "There Is Somebody Waiting for Me" (2 texts)
Roud #7394
NOTES: The first line of this, of course, is from the "Bellman's Song." Don't ask me where the rest of the song went. - RBW
I don't know where it went, but someone is waiting for it. - PJS
File: R741

There Lived an Old Man in Dover


See The Man of Burningham Town (File: VWL068)

There Lives a Man in Ardes Town


DESCRIPTION: A man "wi' little meat and sair wark" beats and starves a mare to death. Besides, "they say he beats his wife." The wives praise the dead mare and say they would have taken her themselves. Now they denounce the man but he does not let them bury her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: abuse death horse burial
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 493, "There Lives a Man in Ardes Town" (1 text)
Roud #5979
File: GrD3493

There Once Was a Farmer


See Teasing Songs (File: EM256)

There Once Was a Soldier


DESCRIPTION: A soldier left Annie and "in foreign lands he soon found another." He writes a letter to Annie that he has been fatally wounded "for the good of my country." She should find another. At the wedding with his new love he dies for love of Annie.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity wedding lie separation death soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1128, "There Once Was a Soldier" (1 text)
Roud #6832
NOTES: The last verse of GreigDuncan6 has a moral that seems gratuitous here: "it's best to be off with the old love, Before you are on with the new." For a song for which that theme makes more sense see "Aff Wi' the Auld Love." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61128

There She Blows


See The Wounded Whale (File: SWMS023)

There She Stands, a Lovely Creature


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

There Was a Crooked Man


DESCRIPTION: "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile, He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: home animal
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 324, "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #224, p. 148, "(There was a crooked man)"
Roud #4826
NOTES: The Baring-Goulds suggest that the crooked man of this song was the Covenanter Alexander Leslie, and the crooked sixpence Charles I (who was willing to use the Covenanters if it would preserve his throne but had no real use for them). This is another of those "possible but hardly demonstrable" cases. - RBW
File: BGMG224

There Was a Fair


DESCRIPTION: "There was a fair into the toon, The lads and lasses a' were boun, Wi' glancin buckles o' their shoon, An' floories i' their waistcoats"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 371, "There Was a Fair" (1 fragment)
Roud #5914
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 fragment.
GreigDuncan3 referring to a note by Duncan: "Cf. [611 'Hey the Bonny Breistknots']." The first verse of "Hey the Bonny Breistknots" is close to the fragment here but each line is different enough that I am not convinced that these are the same song. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3371

There Was a Gallant Soldier


DESCRIPTION: A soldier meets a maid. He asks if she is pregnant; she says yes. Who is the father? A soldier like you. Where is he? Gone to war. What if he is slain? "The king will lose a man she said an I will loose a frien." Am I the man? Yes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: war reunion pregnancy dialog soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1472, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "There Was a Gallant Soldier" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #7183
ALTERNATE TITLES:
O Fair Maid
NOTES: GreigDuncan7 1472C gives the soldier's name as "Rob Runawa' when he's nae at hame." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71472

There Was a Girl Her Name Was Young


See The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)

There Was a Jolly Miller


See The Miller Boy (Jolly is the Miller I) (File: R518)

There Was a Knicht


DESCRIPTION: "There was a knicht on a bonnie simmer nicht, Was huntin' the deer and the roe; He met wi' a lady in good greenwood; In greenwood she did go"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: knight hunting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 833, "There Was a Knicht" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #6218
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4833

There Was a Knight


See Riddles Wisely Expounded [Child 1] (File: C001)

There Was a Lady in Merry Scotland


See The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)

There Was a Lady in the East


DESCRIPTION: A lady with many suitors loves Jimmy, her father's clerk. Her father would disown her but she says she wants Jimmy more than treasure. Her father shoots her. Her mother faints and Jimmy commits suicide.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(76))
KEYWORDS: grief courting love murder suicide father mother money
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Peacock, pp. 726-728, "There Was a Lady in the East" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 68, "There Was a Lady in the East" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 84, "The Maid of the East" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea726 (Partial)
Roud #2298
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "The Maid of the East" (on MRMHare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(76), "The Cruel Father and Constant Lover," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Cruel Father and Constant Lover
NOTES: Peacock claims this is Laws M19, "The Young Sailor Bold (I) (The Rich Merchant's Daughter)." ["Although the story is the same ... the texts and tunes are completely different."] I think that makes this a different ballad. And the stories are not so close either. [I agree; there is no hint of accident or mistake here, and it's a different set of suicides. Roud also splits them. - RBW] - BS
File: Pea726

There Was a Lady Lived in the West


See Willie o Winsbury [Child 100] (File: C100)

There Was a LIttle Bird


DESCRIPTION: "There was a little bird that went hop-hop-hop. I said, 'Little bird, won't you stop, stop, stop?' I opened the window to say, 'How do you do?' He shook his little tail and away he flew."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Minnie Stokes)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 241, (no title) (1 short text)
File: MHAp241A

There Was a Little Man


DESCRIPTION: "There was a little man, And he had a little gun, And the ball was made of lead." The little man goes out to hunt ducks. He hits the duck in the head and brings her home to his wife to cook. (He goes out to shoot the drake, but it escapes)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1744 (Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: bird hunting food
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 325, "There was a little man, and he had a little gun" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #25, p. 38, "(There was a little Man)"
Roud #1289
File: BGMG025

There Was a Little Woman


See The Old Woman Who Went to Market (The Old Woman and the Pedlar) (File: Lins258)

There Was a Maid and She Was Fair


See Bonnie Jean (File: GrD71335)

There Was a Man and He Was Mad


DESCRIPTION: The madman spends his life jumping into things -- pudding bag, bottle of wine, bottle of beer, notched stick, etc. Finding each one unsatisfactory, he moves on to the next. Finally he winds up in a situation he cannot handle, and quits/dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1846 (Halliwell)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Eddy 99, "There Was a Man and He was Mad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 321, "There was a man, he went mad" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #178, p. 128, "(There was a man, he went mad)"
ST E099 (Full)
Roud #5336
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "There Was a Man and He Was Mad" (on PeteSeeger03, PeteSeegerCD03)
File: E099

There Was a Man Lived in the Moon


See Aiken Drum (File: OO2007)

There Was a Man of Double Deed


DESCRIPTION: "There was a man of double deed Sowed his garden full of seed" (or) "A man of words and not of deeds Is like a garden full of weeds." After many similes, the rhyme may well end, "When my (heart/back) began to bleed, Twas death and death and death indeed"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammer Gurton's Garland), with a high probability that it is at least related to much older materials
KEYWORDS: playparty
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 322, "There Was a Man of Double Deed" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #75, p. 81, "(A man of words and not of deeds)"
DT, SANDYTOY
Roud #2103
NOTES: This is a complex puzzle. The Opies call it a "rhyme of strange fascination," with which I agree; it is very hard to get out of the head once one thinks of it. The Baring-Goulds call it a ball-bouncing song. Roud lists many versions under titles such as "Sandy Toy" and "The Other Side of Jordan"; I am far from convinced these are in fact all the same. And while many collected versions have tunes, the "Double Deed" versions all seem to lack them.
But what does it mean? The Opies mention many parallels with topical significance, but they are all clearly rewrites. There is a certain thematic similarity in the "A man of words and not of deeds" to the New Testament book of James, which declares (2:17) that "faith... if it has no works, is dead" and also says (3:6) that "the tongue is a fire," inflaming controversy. Yet there is no hint that the poem is quoting the Bible.
It is interesting to note that, in the reign of King Edward IV, a bit of propaganda (perhaps in ballad form?) called England "a garden full of weeds," according to the description in Charles Ross, Edward IV, 1974 (I use the 1997 paperback edition in the Yale English Monarch series with a new introduction by R. A. Griffiths), p. 300. If this is so, then the man of words and not of deeds is presumably the inept Lancastrian King Henry VI, whose government lost all English territories in France and went bankrupt along the way. On the other hand, Henry VI was overthrown in 1461, and eventually killed and his dynasty ended in 1471. There is no reason, other than the similarity of words and Henry VI's general ineptness, to link the poem with the events of the Wars of the Roses. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OO20322

There Was A Man, He Went Mad


See There Was a Man and He Was Mad (File: E099)

There Was a Pig Went Out to Dig


DESCRIPTION: "There was a pig went out to dig, Chris-e-mas day, Chris-e-mas day, There was a pig went out to dig, On Chris-e-mas day in the morning." Similarly, "There was a sparrow went out to harrow," "There was a cow went out to plow," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ritchie-Southern)
KEYWORDS: animal work Christmas nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ritchie-Southern, p. 28, "There Was A Pig Went Out to Dig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1369
File: RitS028

There Was a Piper Had a Cow


DESCRIPTION: The piper has no food for his cow but plays her a tune for consolation. The cow is either happy enough to give the piper a penny to play "corn rigs are bonny," or tells the piper to play for money and use that to feed her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: poverty food music animal humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1655, "Corn Rigs" (2 texts)
Opie-Oxford2 416, "There was a piper had a cow" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #156, p. 117, "(There was a piper had a cow)"
Roud #13046
File: OO2416

There Was a Rich Englishman


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

There Was a Rich Man Who Lived in Jerusalem


See Hi Ho Jerum (File: FSWB025)

There Was a Sea Captain


See The Sea Captain and the Squire [Laws Q12] (File: LQ12)

There Was a Squire


DESCRIPTION: "It's I hae haughs and I hae bowers, I hae castle and I hae towers, And I swear my wedded wife ye'll be For I canna live and want ye"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting home wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 837, "There Was a Squire" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #6220
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4837

There Was a Tree


See The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)

There Was a Watermelon


DESCRIPTION: "There was a watermelon, A-growing in the garden, And in the garden wall there was a hole. A skinny little nigger Said if he's a little bigger, He'd climb over the garden wall. He's sneak up like a rabbit, And then he'd grab it...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food thief
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 465, "There Was a Watermelon" (1 text)
Roud #11798
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Watermelon on the Vine" (theme)
File: Br3465

There Was a Wealthy Farmer


See The Plains of Baltimore (File: Wa005)

There Was a Young Lady


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

There Was an Aul' Wifie


DESCRIPTION: "There was an auld wife" and everybody said she would be hanged. She called for a peg where a nail should be and went to her "wee beddie." She danced herself dead in her own house.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: nonballad death wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1425, "There Was an Aul' Wifie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7267
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laird o' Cockpen" (tune, per GreigDuncan7)
File: GrD71425

There Was an Old Farmer


See The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)

There Was an Old Frog


See Kemo Kimo (File: R282)

There Was an Old Lady (I)


DESCRIPTION: Floating bawdy or scatological verses to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. The chorus urges, "Come on you bastards, come on you whores, Pull up your dresses, pull down your drawers...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953
KEYWORDS: bawdy scatological sex nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 253-255, "There Was an Old Lady" (1 composite text, 1 tune); see also under "Ditties," pp. 264-268, which contain other verses that fit "Turkey in the Straw"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (tune & meter) and references there
File: EM253

There Was an Old Lady (II)


See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

There Was an Old Man


See Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)

There Was an Old Miller


See The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)

There Was an Old Miser


DESCRIPTION: The old miser's daughter is courted by a sailor. When the miser finds out, he pays a captain to impress the boy. The girl fails to save the boy, but his ship is wrecked and he escapes to shore almost alone. He finds the girl; they are married.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1854 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(16))
KEYWORDS: courting sailor father pressgang wreck escape marriage
FOUND IN: US(MA) Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 48, "There Was an Old Miser" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC048 (Partial)
Roud #3913
RECORDINGS:
Chris Willett, "The Old Miser" (on Voice04)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(16), "Old Miser" ("It's of an old miser in London did dwell"), Swindells (Manchester), 1796-1853; also Johnson Ballads 572, "The Old Miser"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser)" [Laws N6]
NOTES: Although this song shows many similarities to Laws N6 (plus a slight similarity to "William and Harriet," Laws M7), Cazden et al consider the ending sufficiently different that they regard it as a separate ballad. Since the policy of this index is to split rather than lump, here it stands.
Roud, interestingly, lumps it with Laws N10, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter." - RBW
Chris Willett's version on Voice04 and Bodleian broadsides 2806 c.16(16) and Johnson Ballads 572 include the verses in the [Supplemental Tradition text, from Cazden et al] but omit the ending: no shipwreck or happy ending. - BS
File: FSC048

There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck


DESCRIPTION: "There was an old nigger, his name was Dr. Peck, He fell in de well an' broke his neck. De cause ob de fall was all his own, 'Case he order look atter de sick An' let de well alone!" With the "mourner, you shall be free" chorus and floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: doctor death humorous floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 197, "There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck" (1 text)
File: ScaNF197

There Was an Old Soldier


See The Old Tobacco Box (File: FSC143)

There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig


DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman and she had a little pig, It didn't cost much 'cause it wasn't very big." Despite good care, the pig never grows up. One day it dies. The owner(s) soon follow. The song ends; "if you want any more, you can sing it yourself"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: animal death
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
BrownIII 130, "The Old Woman and Her Pig" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Eddy 68, "Old Sam Fanny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 195, "Uncle Sam Simmie" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 235, "The Old Woman and the Little Pigee" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 77, "The Old Woman and the Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 308-310, "Tale of a Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 207-210, "There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 21, "The Old Woman and the Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 42, "Little Betty Pringle she had a pig" (1 text)
BaringGould-MotherGoose #37, p. 53, "(Little Betty Winkle she had a pig)"
JHCox 175, "Old Sam Fanny" (2 texts)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 574-575, "The Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E068 (Partial)
Roud #746
NOTES: Although the first instance of this seems to be from 1784, the idea appears to be older. Oliver Goldsmith (died 1774) produced a poem to mock the sententiousness of Thomas Percy. It began
A Dirge
Little Betty Winckle she had a pig,
It was a little pig not very big;
When he was alive he liv'd in clover,
But now he's dead and that's all over.
(Quoted in Nick Groom, The Making of Percy's Reliques, Oxford English Monographs, 1999, p. 239). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: E068

There Was an Old Woman Lived Under a Hill


DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman lived under a hill, And if she isn't gone, she lives there still." Various endings seem to have been grafted on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 541, "There was an old woman" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #4, p. 28, "(There Was an Old Woman)"
Roud #1613
File: BGMG004

There Was an Old Woman Tossed up in a Basket


DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman tossed up in a blanket" with a broom, many times higher than the moon. The singer asks what she's doing. She says she is brushing the cobwebs, or clouds, out of the sky. The singer asks to go with her, or says well done.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad talltale
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 544, "There was an old woman tossed up in a basket" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #35, p. 50, "(There was an old woman tossed in a blanket)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 175, "(There was a wee wifie rowed up in a basket)" (1 text)
Roud #1297
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lilliburlero" (tune) (per Opie-Oxford2)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "Rimbault says this song is supposed to allude to James II.... In spite of the rhyming, the original wording was probably 'tossed up in a blanket Ninety-nine [instead of seventeen or nineteen] times as high as the moon', as in the William and Mary ballad, The Jacobite tossed up in a blanket." - BS
The Baring-Goulds report an even more extravagant story, connecting this to Henry V (reigned 1413-1422) and his invasion of France. But they add "The only trouble with this story is that there doesn't seem to be a word of truth in it." I couldn't have put it better myself. - RBW
File: OO2544

There Was First Guid Ale


DESCRIPTION: "There was first guid ale, and syne guid ale, And second ale and some; Hink-skink, and ploughman's drink, And scour-the-gate, and trim"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 569, "There Was First Guid Ale" (2 texts)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 392, ("There's first guid ale, and syne guid ale")
Roud #5895
NOTES: Chambers: "Different Kinds of Malt Liquor." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD3569

There Was Twa Auld Carles


DESCRIPTION: Two old men and a poor girl [quine] are in bed together. One moved off [jinkit aff], and the other moved in, and they played there.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1722, "There Was Twa Auld Carles" (1 text)
Roud #13140
NOTES: GreigDuncan8: "[This is] from two manuscripts 1730-1760." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81722

There Was Twa Ships Upon the Sea


See A Little Ship Was on the Sea (File: GrD81756)

There Were Three Jovial Welshmen


See Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)

There Were Three Ravens


See The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)

There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone


DESCRIPTION: "There were two birds sat on a stone, Fa la la lal de, One flew away and then there was one, Fa la la... The other flew after, and then there was none... And so the poor stone was left all alone." The (birds/crows) then fly back
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1767 (Newbery)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1680, "The Twa Corbies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #49, pp. 59-60, "(There were two birds sat on a Stone)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 19, "(There were two crows sat on a stone)" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 51, "There were two birds sat on a stone" (2 texts)
DT, CRAWSTAN
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #13, p. 17, ("There were twa craws sat on a stane, Fal de ral")
Roud #8906
NOTES: Sounds like "The Twa Corbies" told from the standpoint of their original perch. But there are just enough mentions of it that I thought it had better go in the Index.
Charles Kingsley quoted two stanzas of this in The Water Babies. (1863):
Two little birds they sat on a stone,
One swam away, and then there was one,
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
The other swam after, and then there was none,
And so the poor stone was left all alone,
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
The quotation is in chapter seven. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BGMG049

There Were Two Crows Sat on a Stone


See There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone (File: BGMG049)

There'll Be a Hot Time (In the Old Town Tonight)


DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, this is essentially an ever-changing collection of floating bawdy verses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 532-534, "There'll Be a Hot Time" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 203-204, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1 text, 1 tune -- from the sheet music)
Geller-Famous, pp. 138-143, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 278-279, "A Hot Time in the Old Town"
ST RL532 (Partial)
Roud #4324
RECORDINGS:
Edward M. Favor, "Hot Time in the Old Town" (Berliner 0791-L, 1899)
Bill Mooney & his Cactus Twisters, "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" (Imperial 1096, n.d. but post-World War II)
Dan W. Quinn, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (Berliner 527-Z, 1897)
Bessie Smith & her Blue Boys, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town" (Columbia 3173-D/Parlophone R-2477 [UK], 1938)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" (Columbia 15695-D, 1931; rec. 1929)
SAME TUNE:
West Wallsend Football Song (Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 253)
NOTES: Fuld points out that the earliest (1896) sheet music refers not to "the old town" but to "Old Town" (in Louisiana). This version is by Joe Hayden (words) and Theodore A. Metz (music), and involves a dance and/or camp meeting. This camp meeting version, according to Spaeth, came to be "indelibly associated with the Spanish[-American] War."
This may be true, but clearly the folk have taken things into their hands from there. - RBW
Indeed; [Dan W.] Quinn's recording, only a year after the sheet music, already calls it "The Old Town." - PJS
The cover sheet to the 1896 sheet music at LOCSheet Music B-570 [cover only] has the title as "A hot time in the old town"; the commentary notes the chorus as "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight, ma baby" - BS
File: RL532

There'll Be Joy, Joy, Joy


See In My Father's House (File: San483)

There'll Be No Distinction There


DESCRIPTION: "There'll be no sorrow on that heavenly shore, There'll be no woes at the cabin door...." Singer describes heaven as a place without sorrow, poverty, class distinctions, racism, adultery, nagging women, or booze.
AUTHOR: Blind Alfred Reed
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, Blind Alfred Reed)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 563, "Dar'll Be No Distinction Dar" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 232-233, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DISTNCTN
Roud #11883
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (OKeh 05982/Conqueror 9572, c. 1940)
New Lost City Ramblers, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (on NCLR09)
Blind Alfred Reed, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (Victor 23550, 1931)
File: CSW232

There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame


DESCRIPTION: Singer hears a man sing "The church is in ruins, the State is in jars, Delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars." His seven sons died fighting for James. "Now life is a burden that bows me down." "There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: rebellion nonballad political Jacobites
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hogg1 38, "There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 118, "There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame" (2 fragments, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #326,, pp. 453-454, "There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame--" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1791)
Roud #5782
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There's Few Guid Fellows When Jamie's Awa'" (tune, according to Burns)
cf. "My He'rt It Is Sair" (tune)
NOTES: Hogg1: "It is very like Burns, but is given in Johnson's Museum as an old song without any alterations."
GreigDuncan1: .".. expresses the point of view of supporters of the claim to the throne of the son of James II, James Stuart (the Old Pretender)." - BS
The statement about the church being in ruins is particularly true at this time. There were still Catholics in the Highlands. It has been claimed that there were Anglicans there as well. The country was officially Presbyterian, but many old men remembered the Solemn League and Covenant, some with reverence, others with horror. And William III simply did not understand the Scottish Kirk. In England, he could largely rely on the powers of the Bishops. That didn't work at all in Scotland, where there were no bishops.... - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1118

There's a Dear Spot in Ireland


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the "dear spot" where his aged mother lived with his brothers and sisters. Poverty has brought him over the sea. Now mother is dead. He hopes his brothers and sisters can join him; they will make a poor but honest home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration mother death separation orphan home
FOUND IN: Ireland US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H821, p. 220, "There's a Dear Spot in Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 134, "I Left Ireland and Mother Because We Were Poor" (1 short text)
Dean, pp. 117-118, "I Left Ireland and Mother Because We Were Poor" (1 text)
Roud #4962
File: HHH821

There's A Girl in the Heart of Maryland


DESCRIPTION: "In a quaint, old-fashioned garden in a quaint, old-fashioned town... Where the old Potomac's llowing, that is where I long to be." "There's a girl in the heart of Maryland with a heart that belongs to me." He asks that the parson be ready when he returns
AUTHOR: Words: Ballard MacDonald / Music: Harry Carroll
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love reunion marriage
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 88-89, "ThereÕs a Girl in the Heart of Maryland" (1 text)
Roud #9571
NOTES: According to Sigmund Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America, MacDonald and Carroll had two big hits in 1913: This and "On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine" (the latter apparently being the first-published, since it is mentioned on the sheet music of this piece). Both produced quite a few other pop hits, though very few of them made the jump into oral tradition. - RBW
File: Dean088

There's a Herring in the Pan


See I Wish That You Were Dead, Goodman (File: HHH531)
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