Whoa Back, Buck

DESCRIPTION: The experiences of a poor farmer. He describes his fieldwork methods ("Sometimes I plow my old grey horse..."), the crops, his gal's big feet, the dances they went to together, etc. Possible chorus: "Whoa back, buck! And gee! by the lamb!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: work horse farming poverty floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 281, "Couldn't Raise No Sugar Corn" (1 text, 1 tune, which might be separate since it lacks the chorus)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 187, "Last Year Was a Fine Crap Year" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 67, "Whoa Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax- FSNA 282, "Whoa Back, Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 168-169, "Whoa, Back, Buck!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p 72-73, "Oh, My God, Them 'Taters" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #10060
RECORDINGS:
Anne, Judy, & Zeke Canova, "Whoa Back Buck" (Romeo 5043, 1931; Regal MR 457 [as "Whoa Buck, Whoa" by Three Georgia Crackers], c. 1931 )
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "Whoa Back Buck" (Conqueror 9587, 1940)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Song of the Pinewoods" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I'm a Rowdy Soul" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Tighten on the Backband
NOTES: The Lomaxes credit this to Lead Belly, with some new material of their own. (What else is new?) However, the fragment in Randolph strongly implies that Lead Belly did no more than reshape traditional materials -- and then the Lomaxes reshaped THAT.
It is on this basis that I include Greenway's song "Oh, My God, Them 'Taters" here. Greenway's song is just a fragment; it is possible that it is part of a longer song -- or that the Lomaxes borrowed its lyrics. - RBW
File: LxU067

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Whoa Buck

See Whoa Back, Buck (File: LxU067)

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Whoa Mule (The Kickin' Mule)

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes courting and the dangers of a kicking mule which "kicked the feathers off a goose," etc. The stubborn mule Simon Slick is often mentioned. The chorus will generally contain the instruction "Whoa, mule."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recordings, Bill Chitwood & Bud Landress, Sid Turner, RIley Puckett)
KEYWORDS: animal courting talltale humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 513, "The Kicking Mule" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 186, "Whoa, Mule!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 84, "Simon Slick" (2 texts, longer than most, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 231, "The Kickin' Mule" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 62-63, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (1 text, tune referenced)
Shellans, pp. 76-77, "The Kicking Mule" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SIMONSLK*
Roud #3774
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "Whoa Mule" (Capitol 2738, 1954)
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Whoa Mule" (on Ashley01)
Loman D. Cansler, "Kickin' Maud [or Kickin' Maude]" (on Cansler1)
Bill Chitwood & Bud Landress, "Whoa Mule" (Silvertone 3050, 1924; Brunswick 2811, 1925)
Al Clauser & his Oklahoma Outlaws, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (Melotone 7-08-63, 1937)
Elisha Cox, "Whoa Mule" (AAFS 547 A2)
Vernon Dalhart, "Go Long Mule" (Banner 1416 [as Bob White], 1924; Banner 32130 [as Sid Turner], 1931) (Pathe 32068/Perfect 12147 [both as Sid Turner], 1924)
J. D. Dillingham & O. J. Light, "Whoa, Maude, Whoa" (AAFS 899 B2)
Samuel Clay Dixon, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (AAFS 1749 B3/1750 A1)
Carl Fenton & his Orch. "Go Long Mule" (Brunswick 2683, 1924)
Leonard C. Fulwinder, "Whoa Mule, Whoa" (Victor V-40270, 1930; Aurora [Canadian] 238, c. 1932)
Georgia Yellow Hammers, "Jonnson's Old Grey Mule" (Victor 20550, 1927); "The Sale of Simon Slick - Pts. 1 & 2" (Victor V-40069, 1929)
Happiness Boys (Billy Jones & Ernest Hare, "Go Long Mule" (Columbia 194-D, 1924)
The Hillbillies, "Whoa! Mule" (OKeh 40376, 1925)
Hinson, Pitts & Coley, "Whoa Mule Whoa" (Bluebird B-7438, 1938)
Paul Holland, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (AAFS 3217 A1)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters [or John Hopkins], "Whoa, Mule" (Brunswick 179, 1927)
International Novelty Orch. "Go Long Mule" (Victor 19442, 1924)
Matilda Keene, "Whoa, Larry, Whoa" (AAFS 979 B1)
Louisiana Lou, "Go Long Mule" (Victor 23858, c. 1934; Bluebird 5749, 1935; rec. 1933)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Johnson's Old Grey Mule" (Bluebird B-6584/Montgomery Ward M-7006, 1936)
Bert Martin, "Whoa, Mule" (AAFS 1479 B2)
Chubby Parker, "Whoa Mule, Whoa" Gennett 6120/Silvertone 5011, 1927; Supertone 9189, 1928) (Conqueror 7892, 1927)
Pickard Family, "Thompson's Old Gray Mule" (Oriole 1502/Challenge 990/Jewel 5562, 1929; Conqueror 7736, 1931; Broadway 8179 [as Pleasant Family])
Riley Puckett, "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" (Columbia 150-D, 1924); "Whoa Mule" (Columbia 15040-D, 1925; Silvertone 3258, 1926)
Prairie Ramblers, "Jim's Windy Mule" (Conqueror 8648, 1936; Vocalion 03587, 1937 [as Sweet Violet Boys])
Hobart Ricker, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (AAFS 3904 B4)
Pete Seeger, "Old Grey Mule" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
Shelton Brothers, "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" (Decca 5161, 1935) (King 646, 1947); "Go Long Mule" (Decca 5422, 1937)
Roba Stanley [or Stanley Trio] "Whoa! Mule" (OKeh 40271, 1925)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" (Columbia 15221-D, 1928; rec. 1927); "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (Bluebird B-5591, 1934)
Sid Turner, "Go 'Long Mule" (Perfect 12147, 1924)
Tom Watson [pseud. for Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett], "Johnson's Mule" (Harmony 5095-H, n.d.)
Ukulele Bob Williams, "Go Long Mule" (Paramount 12247, 1925; rec. 1924)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Going Down to Cairo" (words)
NOTES: Every version of this I've heard sung uses the Lomax chorus, "Whoa, mule, I tell you, Miss Liza, you keep cool; I ain't got time to kiss you now; I'm busy with my mule." It doesn't seem to show up much in tradition, though (it is found in the Brown text in a slightly different form). - RBW
Trying to sort out "Whoa, Mule," "Johnson's Old Grey Mule," and related songs is Excedrin Headache #1927. We've lumped them for want of a better solution.
This shouldn't be confused with a fiddle piece, "The Kickin' Mule," made popular by Fiddlin' John Carson; that one has a different tune. - PJS"
File: LoF231

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Whoa, Mule, Whoa

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

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Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy

DESCRIPTION: "With a merry little jog and a gay little song, (Spoken: Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy!), We trudge our way the whole day long... We'll reach Salt Lake some day or bust." The singer thinks of the girl up ahead and the dances along his journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (recording, L. M. Hilton)
KEYWORDS: travel courting dancing nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 172, "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 21, "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHOAHAW
Roud #6692
RECORDINGS:
L. M. Hilton, "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (on Hilton01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (portions of tune)
File: LoF172

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Whole Hog or None, The

DESCRIPTION: Vignettes of people who go "the whole hog or none," e.g. boxer Heenan, who never gave Sayers any peace, and Brigham Young, who had sixty wives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: fight marriage humorous
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
April 17, 1860 - Boxing match between John C. Heenan and Tom Sayers, stopped by spectators after 42 rounds. The bout was the last official bare-knuckle fight
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 513, "The Whole Hog or None" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7596
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Heenan and Sayers" [Laws H20] (subject)
cf. "Rory of the Hill" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Rory of the Hill (File: Zimm075) per broadsides Bodleian 2806 b.10(137), 2806 c.8(278)
The Hale Rick-Ma-Tick (broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(93a), Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1879; apparently first published 1872)
File: R513

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Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, often praising Cindy: "Went up on the mountain top, give my horn a blow...; "Higher up the mountain top, greener grow the cherries..." Chorus: "Whoop 'em up, Cindy, Lord/I love Cindy, Lord/Whoop 'em up, Cindy, Lord, Lord/Gone forevermore"
AUTHOR: Uncle Dave Macon
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fuson, p. 159, "I Give My Horn a Blow" (eleventh of 12 single-stanza jigs) (1 text, perhaps from this though it's just a floating verse)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 196, "Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 255-256, "Whoop 'Em Up Cindy" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Warren Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers, "Saro" (Brunswick 241, c. 1928)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy" (Vocalion 15323, 1926); Uncle Dave Macon & the Fruit Jar Drinkers, "Whoop 'Em Up Cindy" (Vocalion 5009, 1926)
Kirk & Sam McGee, "Whoop 'Em Up Cindy" (on McGeeSmith1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Whoop 'em Up, Cindy" (on NLCR02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cindy"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Saro (not to be confused with "Pretty Saro")
NOTES: This song has less in common with "Cindy" than one might imagine; few if any verses show up in both. But with floating-verses songs like this, you always need to look at the whole family. - PJS
File: CSW196

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Whoopee, Ti Ti Yo, Git Along, Little Dogies

See Get Along, Little Dogies (File: R178)

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Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing, The

DESCRIPTION: A customer and a prostitute engage in oral sex, "each trying to get their guns off first into the other's heads," until he offers to give it "the boar-hog grind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1976 (recorded by Logsdon from Riley Neal)
KEYWORDS: bawdy whore sex
FOUND IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 601-603, "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" (3 texts)
Logsdon 23, pp. 145-148, "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHBELLS*
Roud #10093
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Wedding" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Carolina Twins, "The Boarding House Bells Are Ringing" (Victor 21575, 1928)
NOTES: Either the Carolina Twins' recording is a cleaned-up version of "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" or, more likely, the original of which this is a parody. There is also song called "The Convent Bells Are Ringing," of unknown relationship. - PJS
Logsdon thinks "Whorehouse" is a direct parody of "The Fatal Wedding," with which it shares a tune, but I incline to think there was an intermediate version. "The Boarding House Bells Are Ringing" strikes me as a reasonable candidate.
Logsdon's informant Riley Neal confesses that this song is "just plumb nasty." I incline to agree; most bawdy songs theoretically have a humorous element, but this one strikes me as existing only to disgust. - RBW
File: RL601

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Whose Old Cow

DESCRIPTION: "Twas the end of roundup the last day of June, Or maybe July I just don't remember...." The signer describes the the gathering for the roundup. When the herds gathered, "Nig" Add separates the herds. An unknown brand puzzles him; he claims the cow
AUTHOR: N. Howard Thorp
EARLIEST DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: cowboy work
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thorp/Fife XXI, pp. 247-250 (42-44), "Who's Old Cow" (2 texts, though they look at best marginally related)
Roud #8045
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Brands
NOTES: This is another Thorp poem that does not seem to have made any mark in oral tradition. Its racist tone ("White folks [are] smarter'n Add"), as well as its somewhat forced diction and the obscure use of branding terms, probably guarantee continued obscurity. - RBW
File: TF21

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Whummil Bore, The [Child 27]

DESCRIPTION: A servant has waited on the king for seven years without ever seeing the princess. One day, peering through a hole in the wall (the whummil bore), he sees her being dressed. He greatly enjoys the sight, but can't stay long.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1825
KEYWORDS: clothes servant
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord)) US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 27, "The Whummil Bore" (1 text)
Bronson 27, "The Whummil Bore" (1 version)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 437-438, "The Whummil Bore" (notes plus the "With my glimpy" chorus)
Davis-More 14, pp. 89-91, "The Whummil Bore" (1 text)
DT 27, WHMLBORE
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #354, "The Whummil Bore" (1 text)
Roud #3722
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keyhole in the Door" (plot)
NOTES: Bertrand Bronson discusses origin of this piece in "The Interdependence of Ballad Tunes and Texts" (first printed in the California Folklore Quarterly, II, 1944; see now MacEdward Leach and Tristram P. Coffin, eds, The Critics and the Ballad. The relevant discussion is on pages 89-91.
Bronson states that "'The Whummil Bore' appears to me a by-blow of a serious romantic ballad." He then notes a melodic similarity to "Hind Horn" (Child 17), as well as a similar subplot, and proposes that "Hind Horn" is the source for "The Whummil Bore."
The existence of the Virginia text found in Davis seems very suspicious, and I considered the possibility that it is actually some other song (either "Hind Horn" or "The Keyhole in the Door"). But it's much too clean for the latter, and -- though fragmentary -- too full for the former. Call it a curiosity. - RBW
File: C027

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Why Can't Paddy Be a Gentleman?

DESCRIPTION: "Being told Pat couldn't be a gentleman" I'll ask why not? "Hasn't Ireland got her colleges" and won't he "greet you with a smile?" "You cannot give the reason why, I see it in your face ...actions make a gentleman, no matter what the birth"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 9, "Why Can't Paddy Be a Gentleman?" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(213), "Why Can't Paddy Be a Gentleman?", unknown, n.d.
NOTES: There is, of course, a one word answer to the question in the title: "Catholicism." A fair number of people of Irish ancestry did in fact achieve at least landlord status, and some even entered the nobility. But nearly all, after the time of Tyrconnell, were Protestant. - RBW
File: OCon009

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Why Did I Leave My Auld Hame?

See Mary of the Wild Moor [Laws P21] (File: LP21)

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Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?

DESCRIPTION: "Why do you bob you hair, girls, It is an awful shame To rob the head God gave you To bear the flapper's name." The singer proclaims that "short hair belongs to me," and maintains that women with long hair will be commended by God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: hair
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
[Randolph 644, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls" -- deleted in the second printing]
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 442-443, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 644)
BrownIII 56, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls" (1 text)
DT, WHYBOBHR*
Roud #7842
RECORDINGS:
J. E. Mainer's Mountaneers, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls?" (Bluebird B-6792/Montgomery Ward 7131, 1937)
Blind Alfred Reed, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls?" (Victor 21360, 1928); compare "Why Don't You Bob Your Hair Girls-No. 2" (Victor V-40196, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Bobbed Hair" (theme)
NOTES: Needless to say, there is no scriptural rule mandating long hair -- Paul (1 Cor. 11:15) calls long hair a woman's pride, but nowhere requires it; indeed, in 11:6, he offers shaving the head as an alternative to wearing a veil!
It's hard to imagine how such a heavy-handed piece came to be traditional -- but I suppose anyone stupid enough to believe the arguments it contains could also think them persuasive.
According to the Digital Tradition, this is by Blind Alfred Reed. Norm Cohen reaffirms this, and credits Reed also with the sequel. I can't prove this false -- but why would a blind man produce such a piece? - RBW
File: Br3056

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Why Don't Father's Ship Come In

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

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Why Don't They Do So Now?

See I Wish They'd Do It Now (File: Gil111)

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Why Don't You Love the Old Love?

DESCRIPTION: The singer is a stranger to this country. When an old love's back is turned she can love whom she pleases. "To me she gives nothing, Who loved her so dear" "I'll dress you my darling And take you away. Into New York we'll be sailing"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1974 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection floatingverses emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 33, "Why Don't You Love the Old Love?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5216
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Why Don't You Love the Old Love?" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: There are floating lines rather than floating verses. Lines like "You can love whom you please", "When first to this country A stranger I came", and "Green grow the rushes And the tops of them small" are combined with lines that don't float. Some verses don't seem to float at all. - BS
File: RcWDYLTO

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Wi' His Apron On

DESCRIPTION: After Eve broke "the great command" she kissed Adam "with his apron on." Everywhere now a pretty maid happily kisses her love with his apron on. At Mason Lodge meetings each appears after "five steps that he must take" with his jewels and apron on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(1b))
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage Bible ritual clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig #40, p. 2, ("When Adam in the garden woned"); Greig #148, p. 2, "Wi' His Apron On"; Greig #153, p. 2, "The Apron" (3 texts)
GreigDuncan3 471, "Wi' the Apron On" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
GreigDuncan4 866, "The Mason Lad o' Lochee" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Ord, p. 105, "Wi' His Apron On" (1 text)
Roud #5969 and 5970
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(1b), "Adam in the Garden" ("When Adam in the garden was"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also 2806 c.18(2), "Adam in the Garden"; Harding B 25(1231), "On Masonry"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Kissed My Love wi' His Apron On
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(1b) is the basis for the description.
The final half-line of some of the verses describes the mason "wi' his apron on." Greig #40 "Wi' His Apron On," p. 2, notes that the phrase "wi' his apron on" has a masonic reference as in the song -- "When Adam in the garden woned Along with his companion Eve ... She was never ashamed, nor could she be blamed To kiss her love wi' her apron on." See also "The Bible Story" and references there, "Adam in the Garden," and the "Freemason's Song (II)." - BS
Roud splits Ord's text from Greig's and the others. At first glance this appears reasonable; the majority of versions refer to Adam and Eve in the garden, and Ord's doesn't. But it appears that Ord's version has simply lost the initial verses.
The mention of an apron in this context is interesting. The story of the Fall of Man is in Genesis 3, and in it, after they eat of the Tree of Knowledge, they use fig leaves to sew themselves some sort of clothing. The clothing is mentioned in Genesis 3:7. "Aprons" is the rendering of the King James Bible, but elsewhere it tends to use "girdle" (four of the five other uses; the fifth uses "armor"). The Geneva Bible rendered it "breeches," a reaching also given by Wycliff ("brechis"). The New Revised Standard and Revised English Bibles read "loinclothes." Thus it seems quite likely that this is a deliberate reference to Genesis. (Not that you would likely have doubted it if I hadn't written this long note.) - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord105

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Wi' the Apron On

See Wi' His Apron On (File: Ord105)

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Wicked Captain, The

DESCRIPTION: The Nancy had a gallant crew but none loved the wicked captain who never prayed. He fell ill when "God laid his hands on the sinful man." Even when "fever burned on his aching brow And gnawed his heart within" he never prayed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: disease ship religious
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 678, "The Wicked Captain" (1 text)
Roud #6101
File: GrD3678

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Wicked Girl, The

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

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Wicked Polly [Laws H6]

DESCRIPTION: Polly lives a frolicsome life, saying, "I'll turn to God when I grow old." Suddenly taken ill, she realizes "'Alas, alas! my days are spent; It is too late for to repent.'" She dies in agony and is presumably sent to hell; young people are advised to heed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: disease death Hell warning
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Laws H6, "Wicked Polly"
Belden, pp. 460-464, "The Wicked Girl" (3 texts plus a fragment possibly of this ballad)
Randolph 596, "Wicked Polly" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 416-417, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 596A)
Eddy 140, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 21-23, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 136, "Wicked Polly" (1 text)
BrownIII 62, "The Wicked Girl" (3 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Chappell-FSRA 115, "Sold In Hell" (1 text)
Shellans, p. 95, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 66, "Wicked Polly" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 569-570, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 35, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 86, "I'll Tell You What I Saw Last Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 47, pp. 111-112, "Wicked Polly"; pp. 113-114, "Wicked Polly" (2 texts)
DT 646, WICKDPOL* WICKDPL2*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 160 (1 fragment, no title)
Roud #505
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "I'll Tell You What I Saw Last Night" (on NLCR05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Boy" (plot)
cf. "A Poor Sinner" (plot)
cf. "Death is a Melancholy Call" [Laws H5] (theme)
cf. "The Lost Soul" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Unfortunate Girl
Awful, Oh, How Awful
Young People Hark
A Sad Parting
NOTES: The girl's name in this version [Cohen/Seeger/Wood] is not Polly but Mary. -PJS
In Songs the Whalemen Sang, pp. 306-308, Huntington prints a piece called "Terrible Polly." Neither he nor I can decide if it's an adaption of this song or not, so I decided to list it here in these notes.
Barry wrote a study of this piece and "Death is a Melancholy Call," treating them as variants (male and female, presumably) of the same piece. The moral is of course the same, and they use the same metrical form -- but I can't see any actual dependence in the lyrics. - RBW
File: LH06

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Wicked Stepmother, The

See The Juniper Tree (The Wicked Stepmother, The Rose Tree) (File: Cha047)

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Wicked Wife o' Fife, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer's wife refused to feed him, even after he bought her a new gown. He beat her with a hazel stick. She ran home to her mother who convinced the singer to take her back. He would beat her again if she were not good. He has no more trouble.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: abuse husband mother wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1283, "The Wicked Wife o' Fife" (8 texts, 5 tunes)
Roud #6284
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" [Child 277] (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Hazel Rung
NOTES: This looks to me like a modified version of "The Wee Cooper of Fife." But Ben splits them, presumably because of the family negotiations involved. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71283

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Wicked Wife, The

DESCRIPTION: "There is a wicked wife" who cried to "make her quit o' an auld man." She spoke "sourly and dourly," he "sweetly and meekly." Finally "she gat 'im deid" and quickly married a young man who beat her. She cried "Ochone for my silly aul' man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage death dialog husband wife age
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1293, "The Wicked Wife" (1 text)
Roud #7194
File: GrD71293

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Wicklow Rangers, The

DESCRIPTION: A 14 year old boy from Carlow meets a colonel, who enlists him in the Wicklow Rangers. He leaves his girl. Her friends tell her not to worry. He and a comrade are shunned by two milk-maids. If he survives his enlistment he will return to his girl.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1840? (Bunting); before 1884 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(336a))
KEYWORDS: love soldier separation youth
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 18, "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #689
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(336a), "The Wicklow Rangers" or "The Girl I Left Behind Me" ("Come all you handsome comely maids"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also Harding B 11(795), "The Wicklow Rangers" or "The Girl I Left Behind Me"; 2806 c.7(25), "The Girl I Left Behind Me"; Harding B 26(217), "The New Girl I Left Behind Me"
LOCSinging, as104470, "The Girl I Left Behind Me," unknown, 19C
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian 2806 c.7(25) is somewhat dated by having the singer enlisted by Colonel Whitty "to serve the queen unto some distant land."
OLochlainn cites an 1840 source: "Bunting, 1840, No. 57." I guess this is The Ancient Music of Ireland, editor Edward Bunting, (Dublin, Hodges and Smith, 1840). However, that may only be a reference for the tune since Bunting appears only to deal with Gaelic music, and that, possibly without words. Confirmation will have to wait until someone sees the book (there is a 2000 Dover unabridged edition). - BS
OLochlainn's tune is the one usually associated with "The Girl I Left Behind Me (II - lyric)."
Carlow town is in County Carlow, Ireland. County Wicklow is adjacent.
The text in every copy I have seen is sung in part from the boy's point of view ["... Colonel Reilly listed me ..."] and, in part, from the girl's point of view ["So now my love is gone from me I own I do not blame him ..."].
Broadside LOCSinging as104470 appears to be the same as Bodleian 2806 c.7(25) printed by P. Brereton (Dublin).
The description is based on broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(336a). - BS
File: OLoc018

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Wictory Shall Be Mine

See Victory Shall Be Mine (File: Wa176)

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Widdicombe Fair (I)

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

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Widdicombe Fair (II)

DESCRIPTION: Singer goes to a fair at Widdicombe (or Coldingham, Ratcliffe or Monaghan). There he meets with a jolly beggar and his wife. The singer then lists all the pairs of beggars he's met at the fair
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1826 (Tait's Magazine)
KEYWORDS: commerce begging moniker wife husband nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West)) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kennedy 289, "A-Going to the Fair" (1 text plus assorted fragments in appendices, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 28-29, "Craigbilly Fair" (1 text)
DT, COUDFAIR DONNYBRK*
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 40, "The Beggars of Coldingham Fair"
Roud #666
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I)" (lyrics)
cf. "Under the Greenwood Tree" (form) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Widdliecombe Fair
The Beggars of Coldingham Fair
The Beggars of Ratcliffe Fair
Beggars of Coudingham Fair
Monaghan Fair
Widdliecombe Fair
NOTES: Variants of this song are used as the chorus for "Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I)." It lacks, however, the plot about the horse, so I've separated them. - PJS
Looking at this, I can't help but think there is a cumulative version somewhere in its ancestry. But I haven't found it. Some of the versions, such as that of the McPeake family, also feel a bit like "Dame Durden."
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 265-267, prints a piece, "The Humours of Donneybrook Fair" (listed as by Charles O'Flaherty), which looks as if it might be a recomposed version of this -- but it's much too wordy to be traditional. - RBW
Chambers's source is "Tait's Magazine, [vol] x. [p] 121." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K289

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Wide Mizzoura, The

See Shenandoah (File: Doe077)

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Widgegoara Joe

See The Backblock Shearer (File: MA038)

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Widow by the Sea

See The Widow in the Cottage by the Sea (File: R702)

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Widow in the Cottage by the Sea, The

DESCRIPTION: "In my cottage by the seashore I can see my mansion home... Where with pleasure I have roamed." The singer recalls her family, and thinks how they would mourn if they saw her now. Now her love is dead, and she is "a widow in the cottage by the sea."
AUTHOR: C. A. White
EARLIEST DATE: 1868 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death family home poverty
FOUND IN: US(SE,So) Canada(Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1259, "A Lone Widow" (1 text)
Randolph 702, "The Widow in the Cottage by the Sea" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 114, "In a Cottage by the Sea" (1 text plus mention of 4 more)
Leach-Labrador 123, "Widow by the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1743 and 4327
RECORDINGS:
[Walter "Kid" Smith & the] Carolina Buddies, "In a Cottage By the Sea" (Columbia 15537-D, 1930)
Fred Stanley, "The Cottage by the Sea" (Columbia 15559-D, 1930)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(33d), "All Alone. Cottage by the Sea," J. West (Brighton), n.d.; also Harding B 11(3565), "The Cottage by the Sea" ("Just one year ago to day love")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: In a curious twist, the key final lines of this song ("All this time I"m left a widow At the cottage near the sea") wind up in a British lost love song, "Blue-Eyed Lover" (MacSeegTrav 59), which in desperation I filed with the "Dear Companion" family. Which probably says more about lost love songs than about this piece.
Note also that Roud has two pieces frequently known by this name, and while they appear distinct, I don't always agree with the way he files the pieces. - RBW
In the Bodleian broadside we have a few more details. In the first verse the widow explains that the marriage was "just one year ago to day love ... I changed a mansion for a cottage" and another verse "He lost his life upon the ocean."
Of Roud's broadside entries for #4327 the ones starting "Childhood days now pass before me" are for a different song, which can also be found at Bodleian and American Memory; those starting "Just one year ago to day love" are probably the Bodleian version of this song. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R702

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Widow Machree (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Widow Machree, pray then open your door ... And show me the easiest plank in your floor." "Didn't old Adam loan From his rib" to "manufacture ... the first female" "As you owe man a rib, I lay claim to that same." A marriage proposal.
AUTHOR: Charles Lever (1806-1872)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1860 (broadside, LOCSinging as114990)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 53, "Widow Machree" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as114990, "Widow Machree" ("Widow Machree, pray then open your door"), J Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
NOTES: The Samuel Lover and Charles Lever "Widow Machree" ["Widow Machree (II)"] are not the same song: they share rhyme scheme, verse structure, and theme, but no verses. Which is derived from the other? - BS
Or are they both, perhaps, derived from a common literary source? - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as114990: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon053A

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Widow Machree (II)

DESCRIPTION: "Widow Machree, it's no wonder you frown," your black gown is unbecoming. Summer is coming and birds and rabbits all go in pairs.In winter it would be a sin to be cold and alone. "Take my advice ... take me"
AUTHOR: probably Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1842 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4195)); 1842 (Samuel Lover's novel "Handy Andy")
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad clothes
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4195), "Widow Machre" ("Widow Mackree it's no wonder you frown ..."), Birt (London), 1833-1841; also 2806 b.11(125), Harding B 11(4194), Harding B 11(4196), "Widow Machree"
LOCSinging, cw106740, "Widow Machree" ("Widow Machree, it's no wonder you frown"), George S. Harris (Philadelphia), 19C; also as115000, "Widow Machree"
NOTES: This "Widow Machree" is attributed to Samuel Lover at the Bartleby.com site. The Samuel Lover and Charles Lever "Widow Machree" ["Widow Machree (I)"] are not the same song: they share rhyme scheme, verse structure and theme, but no verses. Which is derived from the other?
Handy Andy is a novel Samuel Lover published in 1842. Lover's novel has ballads and poems scattered throughout. The context for "Widow Machree" in the novel is that it is a supposedly well known song called for by a company of listeners. Lover does not claim authorship for a character in the novel as he does for some other Handy Andy poems. Is Lover including a ballad already in circulation? He seems to be doing just that with his fragment of "Ma Colleen Dhas Crutheen na Mbho" ("The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow") in the 1836 novel Rory O'More. - BS
We note the existence of at least one broadside which appears to be older than Handy Andy; is it possible that Lever and Lover both worked from some earlier piece? Alternately, did Lover publish the song before writing Handy Andy, and then incorporate it into his own work to promote/celebrate its popularity? - RBW
File: Bdsdwdmc

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Widow Malone

DESCRIPTION: "Did ye hear of the widow Malone, Ohone? Who lived in the town of Athlone alone?" All the rich men courted her but she was modest and none could see her alone. Lucius O'Brien from Clare boldly kisses her and she agrees to marry.
AUTHOR: Charles Lever (1806-1872)
EARLIEST DATE: 1841 (Lever, _Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon_)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 62, "Widow Malone" (1 text)
Roud #15892
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(114), "Widow Malone", The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1855; also 2806 c.8(175), Harding B 18(744), "Widow Malone"
LOCSinging, sb40549b, "Widow Malone", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging sb40549b: 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
Published by Lever in Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon, which Edgar Wallace tells me was published in 1841, and published in the twentieth century in Stevenson's Home Book of Verse and Woods's Treasury of the Familiar. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OCon062

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Widow of Sandilands, The

See Lady of the Land (Here's a Poor Widow) (File: BGMG641)

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Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter, The

DESCRIPTION: The widow's daughter reports losing her maidenhead to a grenadier guard. The mother wants it back; the guard invites the girl to his wedding. The bride asks about her; she proves to have slept with another man. The guard marries the daughter instead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Widow prays her daughter might keep her maidenhead, but the daughter comes back having lost it to a Grenadier guard. The mother scolds; the daughter returns to the Grenadier, demanding her maidenhead back. The Grenadier obliges her by "put[ting] her head where her feet was before," then invites her to his wedding; the girl runs back to her mother and tells the story, saying she's a maiden again. The mother, not pleased, goes to the wedding with the daughter; the bride asks who it might be. The Grenadier replies that it must be the widow's daughter who ran home and told; the bride says she'd never do that; she lay with a man for 11 nights and never told anyone. The Grenadier at this point dumps the bride in favor of the widow's daughter "who ran home and told her mummy"
KEYWORDS: sex wedding humorous bawdy mother trick virginity wife
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kinloch-BBook I, pp. 1-3, "The Widow o' Westmoreland" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1439, "A Lady Lived on the Muirland Hills" (1 text)
DT, WIDWSTMO
Roud #228
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter" (on Lloyd1); "Widow of Westmorland's Daughter (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2) (Lloyd3)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Girl (The Fair Maid of the West" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
cf. "The Tailor" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
NOTES: Lloyd notes that the song, never printed as of the time of recording [not quite true; Kinloch printed it in 1827 - RBW], had been offered to F. J. Child but was rejected for indecency. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DTwidwst

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Widow, The

See Up Wi' the Widow (File: GrD4818)

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Widow's Cruisie, The

DESCRIPTION: His hearers knew he was a fool but he "tried the Psalms." "He tell't the story aff wi glee ... Aye the wifie wi her vessle." Then he'd wish them all into glory, assuring them of plenty and "meal an' eelie [oil] to be yer dainty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad religious clergy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 683, "The Widow's Cruisie" (1 text)
Roud #6108
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 quoting William Walker: "'About a minister who preached always when in a strange pulpit the same sermon on the text - "the widow's cruisie."' See 1 Kings 17.8-16." In that passage Elijah, hiding from Ahab during a drought, is told by God to go to a widow He has commanded "to sustain thee." When Elijah asks her for "a morsel of bread" she says she has only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse which is insufficient for her and her son; she plans to use the oil to bake the meal into a cake for their last meal before they die. Elijah asks her to make the cake for him and then make it for herself and her son; if she would do that the barrel and cruise would be filled until the drought breaks. She does and the three survive the drought. - BS
[With the slight complication that the boy "died" -- or at least slipped into a coma -- in the aftermath of the famine, and was revived by Elijah via what sounds like artificial respiration. There is also the curiosity that the widow lived in Zarephath in Sidonian Phoenicia rather than Israel -- a curious place for an Israeli prophet to go.]
[The nitpicker in me also has to note that, on that diet, Elijah, the widow, and her son would all have ended up with scurvy. - RBW]
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3683

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Widow's Lament, The

DESCRIPTION: "My sister, hear and I will relate The troubles I have seen, What sorrows I have seen of late Which are the fruit of sin." "My father" has beaten her brutally; her baby daughter and husband died of disease. She looks forward to meeting and praising God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: disease death family religious
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, pp. 138-139, "The Widow's Lament" (1 text)
ST Fus138 (Partial)
Roud #4287
NOTES: Sort of a modern paraphrase of the first two chapters of the Book of Job. No sign of what happened to the next forty.
Fuson's orthography (which may come from the manuscript) is rather deceptive. The second stanza is given as
My father laid his chastening rod,
The stroke has not been light;
But sure he has been a faithful God,
A judge that will do right.
However, it is clear that it is her oh-so-faithful God who has been abusing her; meaning that the first line should probably be understood as "My Father laid his chastening rod." Not that the Bible observes such distinctions (neither Biblical Greek nor Biblical Hebrew had upper- and lower-case letters), but it's the way the people who write pieces like this usually write. - RBW
File: Fus138

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Widow's Old Broom, The

See Courting the Widow's Daughter (Hard Times) [Laws H25] (File: LH25)

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Widow's Plea, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer enters a court where a youth is on trial. There is no question of his guilt, but his mother rises to beg for mercy. The prosecutor asks the judge to silence her, but he refuses. The judge grants the boy clemency based on the mother's plea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Detroit News)
KEYWORDS: mother children trial punishment mercy
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gardner/Chickering 146, "The Widow's Plea" (1 text)
ST GC146 (Partial)
Roud #3672
File: GC146

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Wife and a Biggin o' Yer Ain, A

DESCRIPTION: "It's gran' to hae a wifie and a biggin [building] o' yer ain." The singer enjoys "to see my wifie wi' the bairnie on her knee" and his hearth at evening. He has been in wealthy lodgings but "it wisna half sae cosy as this biggin' o' my ain"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: home farming nonballad baby wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 546, "A Wife and a Biggin o' Yer Ain" (1 text)
Roud #6022
File: GrD3546

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Wife and Her Wee Pickle Tow, The

See The Wee Pickle Tow (File: HayU080)

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Wife Bereaved of her Husband, A

DESCRIPTION: "My head and stay is loof (sic.) away And I am left alone. My husband dear, who was so near, Is took away and gone." The wife confesses her grief, admits she cannot rest, and says she will turn to Jesus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Belden), from a diary of the Civil War era
KEYWORDS: husband wife death loneliness
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 467, "A Wife Bereaved of her Husband" (1 text)
Roud #7956
File: Beld467A

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Wife in Wether's Skin, The

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

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Wife Is the Main Thing, A

DESCRIPTION: Jack complains that there's no one to look after his house, make him a good meal, or mend his clothes. An old man says to stop complaining: "a wife's the main thing." Jack marries a farmer's daughter "and never did he rue the day"
AUTHOR: N. Stone (source: GreigDuncan5)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 1068, "A Wife Is the Main Thing" (1 text)
Roud #6761
File: GrD1068

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Wife o' Gateside, The

DESCRIPTION: "Ye've a' heard tell o' the wife o' Gateside (or Denside) ... poisoned her maid (or guid-dother [daughter-in-law]) to keep up her pride, And the Deil he is sure o' the wife o' ...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: murder poison mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #129, p. 3, ("Ye've a' heard tell o' the wife o' Gateside") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan2 207, "The Wife o' Gateside" (2 fragments)
Roud #5837
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laird o' Cockpen" (tune, according to Greig)
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan2 fragments.
GreigDuncan2 cites A.H. Miller, Haunted Dundee (Dundee, 1923) for an account of the trial. Margaret Warden, died September 8, 1826. Mrs. Smith, whose son George may have been the father of Warden's unborn baby, was tried for murder and a "Not Proven" verdict returned. - BS
Emily Lyle, Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, p. 106, comments briefly on two "arsenic ballads" in the Greig/Duncan collection, "John Lovie" and "The Wife o' Gateside." She points out that Scots juries were allowed three verdicts, Guilty, Not Guilty, and Not Proven -- the latter of these allowing the accused to go free but saying that there was a significant probability of guilt. In both cases, apparently, the use of arsenic was demonstrated but it could not be shown who poisoned the dead person. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD2207

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Wife o' Kelso, The

See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

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Wife o' My Ain, A

DESCRIPTION: The singer is going home after rambling to marry Ailie. Her mother favors wealthy Geordie Steele. "But if that my Ailee prove faithless, and marry before I return ... Awa' straight to some other beauty, without loss o' time I will hie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting return separation humorous mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 709, "A Wife o' My Ain" (1 text)
Roud #6149
File: GrD4709

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Wife of Auchtermuchty, The

See Father Grumble [Laws Q1] (File: LQ01)

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Wife of Kelso, The

See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

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Wife of the Free, The

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

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Wife of Usher's Well, The [Child 79]

DESCRIPTION: A mother sends her sons away to school, where they die. She swears not to believe in God until they return to her. Later, they do return, but as ghosts. At last they convince her (perhaps by means of the roasted cock crowing) to let them rest
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1802 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: ghost death mourning magic
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England(West,South),Scotland)
REFERENCES (36 citations):
Child 79, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (3 texts)
Bronson 79, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (58 versions)
Leather, pp. 198-199, "There Was a Lady in Merry Scotland" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
SharpAp 22 "The Wife of Usher's Well" (8 texts plus 9 fragments, 18 tunes){Bronson's #23, #18, #49, #20, #47, #4, #9, #50, #31, #5, #32, #43, #39, #40, #13, #14, #51, #7}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 17, "The Three Little Babes (The Wife of Usher's Well)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #18}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 449-451, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2 texts derived from Cox)
Belden, pp. 55-57, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2 texts)
Randolph 19, "The Three Little Babes" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #10, #8}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 39, "The Three Little Babes" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 19B) {Bronson's #8}
Eddy 14, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #24}
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 187-194, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the first version has textual but not melodic variants; the tunes are effectively the same, but the "B" text, while it starts with "Usher's Well" lyrics, is clearlly a rewrite; the boys go off to sea, return, and one marries a servant girl) {A=Bronson's #58}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 64-66, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #58}
Davis-Ballads 22, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (11 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes entitled "The Three Little Babes," "Lady Gay"; 1 more version mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #48, #33}
Davis-More 23, pp. 161-169, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
BrownII 25, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (4 text plus 3 excerpts and mention of 2 more)
Hudson 14, pp. 93-95, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2 texts)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 167-169, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text, locally titled "There Was a Lady, and a Lady Was She"; tune on p. 402) {Bronson's #57}
Ritchie-Southern, p. 69, "The Miracle of Usher's Well" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 14, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 263-265, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 134-135, "Mary Hebrew" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 32, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 34, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (3 texts)
PBB 24, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text)
Niles 33, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Gummere, pp. 195-196+346-347, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 59-60, "The Cruel Mother (Or Three Children)" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 91, "Lady Gay" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #30, though in 4/4 where Bronson marks 3/2!}
Chase, pp. 116-118, "Lady Gay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 58, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text)
JHCox 14, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (5 texts plus mention of 2 more)
LPound-ABS, 7, pp. 18-19, "Children's Song"; pp. 20-21, "Three Little Babes" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, pp. 32-33, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2 texts)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 80-81, "The Wife of Usher's Well" (1 text)
DT 79, LADYGAY* USHERWEL USHRWEL2*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #429, "The Wif of Usher's Well" (1 text)
Roud #196
RECORDINGS:
Texas Gladden, "Three Little Babes" (on LomaxCD1702); "The Three Babes" (AFS, 1941; on LC58)
Seena Helms, "Lady Bride and Three Babes" (on HandMeDown1)
Buell Kazee, "Lady Gay" (Brunswick 212, 1928) {Bronson's #30}
Jean Ritchie, "The Wife of Usher's Wells" (on JRitchie02)
Pete Seeger, "Lady Gay" (on PeteSeeger25)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Saint Stephen and Herod" [Child 22] (plot)
cf. "The Carnal and the Crane" [Child 55] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Dead Little Boys
The Wife of the Free
The Fine Lady Gay
The Cartin Wife
A Moravian Song
The Lady and the Children Three
The Three Pore Little Children
The Lone Widow
NOTES: Bronson makes the interesting observation that there is one Scottish tune for this song, unrelated to any other; two English tunes, related only to each other, and dozens of American collections, most of which (43 of them) have tunes related to each other but not to the Scottish or English forms.
It's hard to know what to do with Lena Bourne Fish's version (the "B" version in Flanders-Ancient2). The first lines are clearly part of this song; the ending is not. It belongs to the romances about a noble marrying a commoner. The tune is shared with Phyllis Burditt's version of "The Wife of Usher's Well," but Bronson finds that tune to be unique.
I'm lumping the two because there is still kinship, and I don't recognize the second half of Fish's song -- but I wouldn't be surprised if she has combined two songs.
The notion that excessive mourning (usually meaning mourning for more than a year and a day) results in the ghost being unable to rest is at least hinted at in several other songs, the most noteworthy being "The Unquiet Grave" [Child 78].
For the vexed question of the origin of the legend of the roasted cock, see the notes to "The Carnal and the Crane" [Child 55].
- RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C079

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Wife Who Was Dumb, The

See The Dumb Wife (Dumb, Dumb, Dumb) [Laws Q5] (File: LQ05)

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Wife Who Wouldn't Spin Tow, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the days before his wife was married, when she worked so hard on her father's farm. But now she is married, she does nothing except dress up and leave home. He would happily be rid of her if he could.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: marriage courting work
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 398, "The Wife Who Wouldn't Spin Tow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7615
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" [Child 277] (theme)
File: R398

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Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin, The [Child 277]

DESCRIPTION: A craftsman has married a wife above his station. She, being of good birth, refuses to do housework. Since she is gentle, he cannot beat her -- but he covers her in a sheepskin, thrashes THAT, and causes her to start working
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803
KEYWORDS: humorous wife abuse husband nobility
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West),Scotland(Aber,Bord) Canada(Mar) Ireland US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (39 citations):
Child 277, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (5 texts)
Bronson 277, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (63 versions)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 322-325, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #33}
Belden, pp. 92-94, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Randolph 35, "Dan-Doo" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #51}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 222-225, "Cooper of Fife," "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #17, #9}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 221-222, "Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #45}
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. 76-98, "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (9 texts plus 5 fragments, 9 tunes) {D=Bronson's #17, J=#45, M=#9}
Fowke/MacMillan 79, "Jenny Go Gentle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Davis-Ballads 45, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (12 texts, several quite fragmentary, 2 tunes entitled "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin," "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin or Dandoo") {Bronson's #38, #50}
Davis-More 39, pp. 305-315, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 44, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts)
Hudson 23, p. 123, "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (1 text)
Brewster 23, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (3 texts, though two are short)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 94-95, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #24}
Leach, pp. 658-660, "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (3 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 58-63, "The Wife in Wether's Skin -- Dandoo!"; "Geely Don Mac Kling Go" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 192-194, "The Wee Cooper o' Fife" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Greig #122, pp. 1-2, "The Wife in the Wether's Skin" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1282, "The Wife in the Wether's Skin" (5 texts plus a single verse on p. 501, 4 tunes) {A=Bronson's #5, C=#13, D=#16, E=#3}
Friedman, p. 449, "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (2 texts)
Warner 44, "The Old Wether's Skin" {Bronson's #29}; 103, "Dan Doo" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {cf. Bronson's 42a/b, from the same informant (Frank Proffitt) but not quite the same in text or tune}
FSCatskills 136, "Tinna Clinnama Clinchama Clingo" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
SharpAp 39, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (5 texts, 5 tunes) {Bronson's #38, #43, #25, #31, #44}
Ritchie-Southern, p. 70, "Gentle Fair Jenny" (1 text, 1 tune, with a chorus perhaps from "Riddles Wisely Expounded," and a text which may well mix this with "The Holly Twig" [Laws Q6]; I thought seriously about filing it there) {Bronson's #32}
Lomax-FSNA 85, "Gentle Fair Jenny" (1 text, 1 tune, claiming to be from Jean Ritchie, but Lomax does not cite a recording and the song bears very little resemblance in text or tune to Ritche's recorded version)
Sharp-100E 70, "Ruggleton's Daughter of Iero" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #36}
Niles 59, "The Unwilling Bride" (1 text, 1 tune, possibly of this ballad but, in my opinion, more likely a form of "The Holly Twig" [Laws Q6])
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 23, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #43}
Chase, pp. 122-123, "Nickety Nackety" (1 text, 1 tune)
DBuchan 63, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (1 text)
JHCox 29, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (5 texts)
JHCoxIIA, #13A-C, pp. 57-60, "The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin," "Dandoo" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "B" text omits the beating and has the husband run away; it may well be a version of "Risselty, Rosselty, Now, Now, Now" although it might alternately have mixed with "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] or something like it) {Bronson's #26}
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 167-169, "The Wife in Wether's Skin -- Dandoo!" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #46}
LPound-ABS, 6, pp. 16-17, "The Wife Wrapped in a Wether's Skin"; pp. 17-18, "Dandoo" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, pp. 80-81, "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 174, "The Wee Cooper Of Fife" (2 texts)
DT 277, COOPFIFE DANDOO*
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 333-334, "The Cooper of Fife'
Roud #117
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "As the Dew Flies Over the Green Valley" (AFS 4197 B1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell) {Bronson's #19a; cf. 18, 19b}
Frank Proffitt, "Dan Doo" (on Proffitt03) {Bronson's #42a/b}
Jean Ritchie, "Gentle Fair Jenny" (on JRitchie02) {Bronson's #32}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Risselty, Rosselty, Now, Now, Now" (theme, plot, lyrics)
cf. "The Holly Twig" [Laws Q6] (plot)
cf. "The Wicked Wife o' Fife" (theme)
cf. "The Daughter of Peggy-O" (plot)
cf. "The Wife Who Wouldn't Spin Tow" (theme)
cf. "Upside Down" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Cooper of Fife
The Wee Cooper of Fife
Bandoo
Gentle Virginia
Kitty Lorn
Kitty Alone
Dan-you
The Old Man Who Lived in the West
NOTES: It has been speculated (see, e.g., Warner) that this ballad inspired Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Evidence is, of course, completely lacking, though some Shakespeare authorities also mention the connection. The piece probably does go back to Elizabethan times; according to J. C. Holt, Robin Hood, revised edition, Thames & Hudson, 1989, p. 140, one Robert Langham heard an entertainment in July 1575 at the Earl of Leicester's palace of Kenilworth which featured the "Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin."
Barry et al have an even stranger theory, that this song, which occasionally has the sort of "plant refrain" we know best from "Riddles Wisely Expounded" and "The Elfin Knight," is actually a description of an exorcism, in which the herbs and the beating both play a part!
American forms of this ballad are often much simplified, omitting, e.g., the mention of the wife's noble origin and/or the sheepskin. Ritchie's version is typical of this; such texts are hard to distinguish from degenerate forms of "The Holly Twig" [Laws Q6]. (Pound's "I Bought Me a Wife" seems almost to be mixed with "The Swapping Song.")
Typical of these degenerate forms is "Risselty, Rosselty, Now, Now, Now," which we originally lumped with this song, but which we have now split off. For full details on how to separate them, see the notes to "Risselty, Rosselty." The basic distinction is that, in "The Wife Wrapt," he beats her; in "Risselty, Rosselty," he merely complains. But there are other indications which can be used for fragments. - RBW, (PJS)
To add to the confusion, there is a nursery song, apparently from Halliwell, beginning "I married a wife by the light of the moon, A tidy housewife, a tidy one." This is not either "The Wife Wrapt" or "Risselty-Rosselty," but it details the wife's strange and "slovenly" habits. And several lines of it, including the first, are found in various versions of Child 277, including e.g. the "B" version in Flanders-Ancient. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C277

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Wild Amerikay [Laws O19]

See Rich Amerikay [Laws O19] (File: LO19)

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Wild and Reckless Hobo, A

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

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Wild and Wicked Youth, The [Laws L12]

DESCRIPTION: The singer recounts his (boyhood and) life, telling of his many daring robberies. Now, alas, he is condemned to die, and must leave his family. He concludes with directions for his funeral
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1830 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(2054))
KEYWORDS: outlaw farewell execution robbery trial funeral youth
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Laws L12, "The Rambling Boy (Wild and Wicked Youth)"
GreigDuncan2 260, "The Roving Blade" (3 texts)
Belden, pp. 136-137, "The Rambling Boy" (1 text)
Randolph 148, "The Rambling Boy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Warner 101, "The Rambling Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-100E 83, "The Robber" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 63-64, "The Rich Rambler" (1 text)
Cambiaire, pp. 43-44, "The Wretched Rambling Boy" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 91-92, "The Reckless and Rambling Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Combs/Wilgus 90, pp. 184-185, "The Rich and Rambling Boy" (1 text)
Kennedy 326, "Newlyn Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 35, "The Newry Highwayman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmermann p. 96, "The Bold and Undaunted Youth" (1 text fragment)
BrownII 121, "The Rambing Boy" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 96, "The Ramblin' Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 130-131, "The Rambling Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife XIII, pp. 148-190 (29-30), "Cow Boy's Lament" (22 texts, 7 tunes, the "L" text being in fact a version of this piece)
Darling-NAS, pp. 106-107, "The Rambling Boy" (1 text)
DT 423, (RAKERAMB*)
Roud #490
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Bold and Undaunted Youth (The Rambling Boy)" (on Abbott1)
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Rude and Rambling Man" (on Ashley01)
Justus Begley, "The Roving Boy" (AFS, 1937; on KMM)
Jumbo Brightwell, "Newry Town" (on Voice03)
Carter Family, "The Rambling Boy" (Bluebird B-8990, 1941/Bluebird 33-0512, 1944)
Wade Mainer, "Ramblin' Boy" (Bluebird 33-0512, 1944)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Rambling Boy" (on NLCR05)
Riley Puckett, "Ramblin' Boy" (Columbia 15605-D, 1930)
Bob Scarce, "Newlyn Town" (on FSB7)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2054), "The Wild and Wicked Youth," T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also Firth c.17(208), Harding B 11(576), Harding B 15(376a), Harding B 11(939), Firth c.17(6), Harding B 16(307a), Harding B 11(4205), Harding B 11(4211), Harding B 11(4212), Firth b.34(314), Harding B 11(3519A), Firth c.17(7), 2806 c.16(325), Harding B 17(338a), Harding B 20(117), Harding B 17(337b), "The Wild and Wicked Youth"; Harding B 28(235), "The Highway Man's Fate"; Harding B 26(67), "The Bold and Undaunted Youth" ("In Stephen's-green I was bred and born"), J. Moore (Belfast), 1852-1868
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Salisbury Plain" (theme)
cf. "It's Down in Old Ireland" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Rake and Rambling Boy
Adieu Adieu
The Flash Lad
NOTES: The Bodleian "The Wild and Wicked Youth" broadsides, and OLochlainn-More 35, include a version of the lines
"I robbed Lord Mansfield I do declare, ...
Lord Fielding's gang they did me pursue And taken I was, by that cursed crew."
The Bodleian notes to 2806 c.16(325) include references to the cast of characters: "Fielding, John, Sir, d. 1780; Mansfield, W.R., Baron Sandhurst, 1819-1876"
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(67) is another example of the "I robbed Lord Mansfield I do declare" group. Zimmermann's fragment seems to be from this version. In this case he falls in with "Fieldskin gang." - BS
Given the date of the song, I would think the Mansfield involved more likely to be William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield (1706-1793), who was Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1756. This has at least sometimes been corrupted to Lord Melbourne, presumably William Lamb, second Viscount Melbourne (1779-1848), the Prime Minister (on and off) from 1834 to 1841. But Mansfield is closer to the Era of the Highwaymen -- and, as Chief Justice, someone they would doubtless enjoy taking.
Fielding in fact might refer to John Fielding or his brother Henry, the author (died 1755). Henry Fielding was driven by poverty to take a post as Commissioner of the Peace for Middlesex in 1748. John Fielding, despite being blind, succeeded him in 1754 -- and dramatically improved law enforcement, though he didn't have the funding to carry out all his reforms. Still, he did enough that life became much harder for the highwaymen.
"Fielding's Gang" is presumably the Bow Street Patrol, founded by the Fieldings as the first almost-national police force in England. - RBW
The "Ramblin' Boy" versions of this song shouldn't be confused with the Tom Paxton song, "My Ramblin' Boy." - PJS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LL12

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Wild Bill Jones [Laws E10]

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets his sweetheart, (Lula), walking with Wild Bill Jones. Since Bill will not leave Lula alone (or vice versa), the singer shoots him. Lula will not bail him out of prison, so the singer spends his last days wildly
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: courting revenge murder prison death jealousy
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws E10, "Wild Bill Jones"
Randolph 151, Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 139, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-FSRA 114, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text)
Hudson 102, pp. 239-240, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text); cf. #13, pp. 91-93, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (1 fragments, of which "A" is the "Pretty Little Foot" with a chorus from "Careless Love" and "B" is two "Pretty Little Foot" stanzas artificially and wrongly extracted from the text of "Wild Bill Jones" cited above)
Cambiaire, p. 19, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text)
SharpAp 99, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 140, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 146, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 134-135, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 622, WILDBILL*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 23, #6 (1975), p, 5, "Wild Bill Jones" (1 text, 1 tune, apparently the Ralph Stanley version)
Roud #2246
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Wild Bill Jones" (on Ashley01)
Frank Bode, "Wild Bill Jones" (on FBode1)
Dock Boggs, "Wild Bill Jones" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Granville Bowlin, "Wild Bill Jones" (on MMOKCD)
Eva Davis, "Wild Bill Jones" (Columbia 129-D, 1924; on RoughWays2)
Logan English, "Wild Bill Jones" (on LEnglish01)
Kelly Harrell, "Wild Bill Jones" (OKeh 40486, 1925; on KHarrell01)
Wade Mainer & his Little Smilin' Rangers, "Wild Bill Jones" (Bluebird B-7249, 1937)
George Reneau, "Wild Bill Jones" (Vocalion 14998, 1925)
Ernest V. Stoneman "Wild Bill Jones" (Edison 51869, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5196, 1926)
Tobacco Tags, "Wild Bill Jones" (Bluebird B-8365, 1940)
Welby Toomey, "Wild Bill Jones" (Gennett 3228, 1926; Challenge 158 [as Bob Ferguson]/Challenge 324 [as John Ferguson], 1927; rec. 1925)
File: LE10

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Wild Boy, The

See Wild Rover No More (File: MA069)

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Wild Boy, The [Laws B20]

DESCRIPTION: The singer, guilty of murder and robbery, is arrested and jailed. His family deserts him, but a rich uncle bails him out. He vows to give up his wild ways.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Craddock)
KEYWORDS: family reprieve
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Laws B20, "The Wild Boy"
DT 842, WILDBOY
Roud #3241
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Limbo" (theme)
NOTES: The first stanza begins "My parents raised me ten-der-lee, They had no child but me, But I was bent on rambling-- With them I couldn't agree" and the story continues with bad company and jail. The composer seems familiar with "Limbo" and its rescue and conversion by a rich uncle of a rake to an honest man who has learned to shun the girls that "gurgle" over his money; here the "Wild Boy" is rescued and converted by a rich uncle to an honest man and we are led to believe "Agnes and ... Mabel, ... Mary likewise" will not get the better of him in the future. - BS
File: LB20

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Wild Buckaroo, The

DESCRIPTION: "I've been ridin' cattle for most of my life, I ain't got no family and I ain't got no wife." The cowboy boasts of his exploits, tells of the places he has worked, describes what he likes, and concludes "I'm a high-loping cowboy and a wild buckaroo."
AUTHOR: Curley Fletcher ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: cowboy bragging work bawdy
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "C" text)
Logsdon 15, pp. 102-107, "Wild Buckaroo" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #10091
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Strawberry Roan" (tune)
NOTES: Glenn Ohrlin credits this to Curley Fletcher.
These days this song is probably known best in its parody version, which Ohrlin also credits to Fletcher; in the parody, a succession of increasingly bawdy verses follows the clean ones. - PJS
Logsdon also credits a verion to Fletcher. The interesting question is whether all the songs listed e.g. by the Fifes as "Cowboy Boasters" can be lumped, and if not, how to split them -- the format of this, in two-line independent couplets, makes almost infinite rearrangement possible. It is noteworthy, for instance, how different are Logsdon's clean and dirty versions. - RBW
File: FCS35C

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Wild Cat Back on the Pipe Line, The

DESCRIPTION: A wildcat shows up on the pipe line. Norman Matchett said "'twas a monkey." Freeman Hare swears "'twas a monsterous bear." Leclair, from Australia, said "'twas a big kangaroo." The singer, a hunter, says the others must have had too much wine at Willie's
AUTHOR: probably Jared MacLean
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: humorous animal wine nonsense
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manny/Wilson 47, "The Wild Cat Back on the Pipe Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi047 (Partial)
Roud #9181
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Three Jolly Huntsmen" (theme)
File: MaWi047

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Wild Colloina Boy, The

See The Wild Colonial Boy [Laws L20] (File: LL20)

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Wild Colonial Boy, The [Laws L20]

DESCRIPTION: Transported from Ireland to Australia, (Jack Doolan) turns bushranger but robs only the rich. At last intercepted by troopers Kelly, Davis, and Fitzroy, he chooses to fight rather than surrender. He kills Kelly but is in turn shot by the other two
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie); Shepard's broadside claims to be the "original version first printed 1880"
KEYWORDS: transportation outlaw death
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont) Australia Ireland
REFERENCES (22 citations):
Laws L20, "The Wild Colonial Boy"
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 72, 124, 148-149, 255, "The Wild Colonial Boy"; p. 152, "Jack Dowling"; pp. 185-186, "John Doolan" (5 texts, 6 tunes)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 72-74, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 374, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
FSCatskills 113, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 133, "The Wild Colloina Boy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 130-131, "Jack Dolden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 54, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 128, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 77-78,257, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 99, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 229, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
Beck 90, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
SHenry H750, pp. 120-121, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 52-54, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 134-135, 299-300, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
PBB 97, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 80-81, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 110-111, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 201, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
DT 427, COLONBOY* COLONBY2*
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 179, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (reproduction of one of John Manifold's prints, with text and tune); p. 180, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (reproduction of a modern broadside claiming to be "The Original Version)
Roud #677
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (on Voice08)
John Greenway, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (on JGreenway01)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (on Lloyd4, Lloyd10)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jack Donahue" [Laws L22]
NOTES: Philips Barry connects this song to the career of a Jack Dowling who was a bushranger in the 1870s. John Greenway, however, believes that Jack Doolan/Dolan/Duggan was an improved version of the historical Jack Donahue. He based this on the fact that two share initials, they were credited with many of the same feats in popular imagination, they shared similar fates, and the two ballads sometimes exchange tunes and choruses. Compare, however, Cazden et al. - RBW
Another candidate from Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 8" - 1.3.03: "It has been suggested that the story is based on the life of one John Donaghue, a Dublin man who was transported for life in 1825, and who was killed by troopers in 1830." - BS
Nunn, p. 76, in fact reports that the song "Bold John Donoghue sung in the early 1830s glamorised his fictional deeds an heroic death. It was banned only to re-emerge, with minor variations, as ['The Wild Colonial Boy]."
Given that this song is so widespread, though, I almost suspect that this song PRECEDES "Jack Donahue," and that the Australian song of that name is a conflation of this with the native Australian ballad referred to herein as "Bold Jack Donahoe."
In addition, though Laws does not list a broadside publication, one suspects that this piece began life in print, as the names of the troopers who killed Doolan almost never show variants.
In my personal library, as of this writing, I find twelve substantial texts of this song from verified sources. Seven of these do not give an internal date for the song; of the five that do, three list (18)61, one 1862, and one (18)65. I suspect that this is, however, an error for the convict's age of "sixteen years."
One small point regarding the date: The troopers are said to have been mounted, and Australia didn't get a mounted police force until 1825. Even then, it was only 13 troopers; it didn't grow to as many as 150 men until 1839 -- by which time transportation to New South Wales was effectively ended.
Robert Hughes, who prints a version he took down in 1958 (p. 242) says that "there used to be as may ways of singing 'The Wild Colonial Boy' as there were pianos in Australian parlors" -- which, in context, strikes me as an underestimate.
It's interesting to note that both Jack Doolan and the troopers who shot him have Irish names. OxfordCompanion, p. 31, notes that the Irish represented about a quarter of the migrants to Australia -- and that they were over-represented among both the convicts and the police. - RBW
Bibliography

• Hughes: Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's founding, Knopf, 1986
• Nunn: Harry Nunn,Bushrangers: A Pictorial History, Ure Smith Press, 1979, 1992
• OxfordCompanion: S. J. Connolly, editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford, 1998.

Last updated in version 2.5
File: LL20

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Wild Goose Grasses, The

See Died for Love (I); also The Butcher Boy [Laws P24] (File: McST055)

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Wild Goose Shanty, The

See Huckleberry Hunting (File: Doe032)

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Wild Goose, The

See Huckleberry Hunting (File: Doe032)

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Wild Hog

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

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Wild Hog in the Woods

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

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Wild Horse Charlie

DESCRIPTION: Wild Horse Charlie tells the poet that he prefers his work to women. He explains that he had once been engaged to one. Later it turns out she had become engaged to a number of cowboys, taking money from each and then skipping town.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: courting marriage trick cowboy recitation
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 78, "Wild Horse Charlie" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Glenn Ohrlin, "Wild Horse Charlie" (on Ohrlin01)
File: Ohr078

---

Wild Irish Boy, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer reports on his arrival in the new world. Despite his poor clothes, history of gambling, and criminal record, the girls like him for his looks. But now he is punished for his crime with poverty, prison, and loneliness
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1875 (Barney & Rickey's Songster)
KEYWORDS: transportation gambling exile separation loneliness prison punishment emigration homesickness clothes father mother
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
FSCatskills 112, "The Wild Irish Boy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 26, "The Wild Irish Boy" (1 text)
ST FSC112 (Partial)
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Wild Irish boy" [fragment] (AFS A 4210 B1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(490), "Wild Irish Boy", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: The handful of traditional collections of this song have, at first glance, little resemblance to most of the broadsides. But Cazden et al managed to assemble enough versions that they are convinced of the identity of the pieces, and I think they're right.
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 18(490): H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: FSC112

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Wild Irishman

See The Monkey Turned Barber [Laws Q14] (File: LQ14)

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Wild Irishman in London, The

DESCRIPTION: "I am a wild Irishman just come to town, To view the fine city of fame and renown." The English attack him, He fights off butcher and police and crowd with his shillelegh, and has a drink to rejoice. He wishes "Long life and success to Erin go Bragh."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Shephard); the other song on the sheet is probably from the period of the American Civil War
KEYWORDS: drink fight
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 159, "The Wild Irishman in London" (reproduction of a broadside page)
Roud #5085
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Duncan Campbell (Erin-Go-Bragh)" [Laws Q20] (theme of Irishman being abused and fighting back)
File: BdTWIrL

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Wild Man of Borneo, The

DESCRIPTION: Cumulative song: "The wild man of (Borneo/Poplar) has just come to town (4x)" building to "The left whisker of the flea in the hair in the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (collected from Charles Neville)
KEYWORDS: cumulative nonballad animal bug
FOUND IN: Britain(Wales,England(South)) Canada(Mar) Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 311, "The Wild Man of Borneo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 258, "The Wild Man of Borneo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, KINGCARA*
Roud #2145
RECORDINGS:
Carl Jones, "Wild Man of Borneo" (OKeh 45516, 1931; rec. 1930)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Court of King Caractacus
The Wild Man from Poplar
Dyn Bach o Fangor
NOTES: [A variant version:] The fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses of the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus were just passing by." - (PJS)
The Digital Tradition credits the above tentatively to Rolf Harris. I can't prove that, but I suspect it is composed.
Caractacus was a proto-British king (son of Cunobelinus, who through the muddle of Holinshed became Shakespeare's Cymbeline). His exact date of accession is uncertain, but it was probably around 40 C. E.
At first he split power with his brother Togodumnus, but the latter died shortly after Claudius's Romans invaded Britain in 43. Caratactus continued to resist for years, mostly from Wales, but was eventually captured around 51 and spent the rest of his life in Rome.
It will presumably be evident that Caractacus didn't have much of a harem (or much time for one). I've no idea why he was picked on, rather than, say, a Persian monarch. - RBW
File: K311

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Wild Miz-zou-rye, The

See Shenandoah (File: Doe077)

---

Wild Mustard River, The (Johnny Stile) [Laws C5]

DESCRIPTION: Johnny catches his foot among the logs while breaking up a jam; he is swept away as the jam breaks up. His badly torn body is recovered and buried by his fellow workers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Detroit News, reprinted in Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: logger death drowning
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws C5, "The Wild Mustard River (Johnny Stile)"
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 177-179, "Johnny Doyle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 56, "Wild Mustard River" (4 texts, one called "The Old Tamarack Dam"; 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 111, "The Wild Mustard River" (1 text)
Fowke-Lumbering #30, "Johnny Stiles" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 100, "The Wild Mustard River" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 714, WILDMUST*
Roud #637
RECORDINGS:
Tom Brandon, "Johnny Stiles" (on Lumber01)
Joe Kelly, "Johnny Doyle" (on Lumber01)
Carl Lathrop, "The Wild Mustard River" (AFS, 1938; on LC56)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Old Tamarack Dam
NOTES: Fowke believes, on the basis of the distribution of variants, that this song originated in Ontario, but cannot cite an incident on which it is based.
Patrick Doyle of Halifax may have the solution. His great uncle Johnny Doyle died July 6, 1906 on a log drive in Ontario. He tells me that the river was the Moose River.
Based on his family's history (http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-JohnnyDoyle), it appears that Doyle would have been between 29 and 31 years old at the time. - RBW
File: LC05

---

Wild Oats (Turn, Young Man)

DESCRIPTION: "Turn, young men, from your evil ways; (Go/Don't) sow your wild oats in the early days -- that you may be happy when you grow old."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: playparty warning
FOUND IN: US(NE,SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 65, "Wild Oats" (2 fragments)
Roud #7869
File: Br3065

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Wild Ox Moan

See Black Woman (File: CNFM140)

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Wild Privateer, The

See The Bold Privateer [Laws O32] (File: LO32)

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Wild Rippling Water, The

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

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Wild Rover No More

DESCRIPTION: The singer "has been a wild rover for many a year; I've spent all my money on whisky and beer." After years of carousing, he has gone broke and/or struck it rich; he vows that "never no more, It's never, never, never I'll play The wild rover no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1829 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(2055))
KEYWORDS: rambling poverty money travel hardtimes drink landlord floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South),Scotland) Australia Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 69-70, "Wild Rover" (a fragment); pp. 87-88, 127-128, "Wild Rover No More"; pp. 176-177, "I've Been a Wild Boy" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 296-297, "Wild Rover No More" (1 text)
Randolph 166, "The Horse-Thief" (1 text, 1 tune, which appears to be associated with this song although the text is so short that it might be part of a different piece)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 196-197, "The Wild Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 190-191, "Wild Rover" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 113, "The Wild Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 288, "Wild Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan7 1480, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Wild Rover" (7 texts, 5 tunes)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 146-147, "Wild Rover No More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 65, "Wild Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 57, "Wild Rover" (1 text)
DT, WLDROVER*
Roud #1173
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "Wild Rover No More" (on JGreenway01)
Sam Larner, "The Wild Rover" (on SLarner02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2055), "Wild Rover" ("I have been a wild rover these dozen years"), T. Batchelar (London), 1817-1828; Harding B 16(307d), Johnson Ballads 613, Firth c.18(239), Firth c.18(244), Harding B 25(2055), "[The] Wild Rover"; Harding B 11(4217), "Wild Rover!"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds)" [Laws K36] (plot)
cf. "Tambaroora Gold" (theme)
cf. "Moonshiner" (floating lyrics)
cf. "All My Trials" (lyrics)
cf. "Take Me Back to Tulsa" (lyrics)
cf. "The Strawberry Roan" [Laws B18] (tune)
cf. "Limbo" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
No, No, Never
NOTES: Meredith and Anderson claim that their fourth version, "I've Been a Wild Boy," has "no connection with the well-known 'Wild Rover No More.'" The same could be argued for Fahey's "The Wild Boy," since it lacks the "Wild Rover No More" chorus. Both songs also share an initial verse not found in the standard version:
My father died and left me his estate,
I married a lady whose fortune was great
And through keeping bad company I've spent all my store;
I've been a wild boy, but I'll be so no more.
It will, however, be observed that the basic plot of both these songs is that of the "Wild Rover." The also share extensive floating lyrics. It may well be that this mixed "Wild Rover" is a fusion of earlier pieces. At this time, however, I am unable to distinguish the two.
Interestingly, although the song predates "The Strawberry Roan" by a century or so, Greenway's version is sung to a variant of that tune. - RBW
Kennedy and MacColl/Seeger both lump this song with "Moonshiner." I don't think so -- although they share a few lines -- but they do deserve a cross-reference.
No, I'm not making up the "All My Trials" and "Take Me Back to Tulsa" cross-references; Sam Larner included the "If living was a thing was money could buy/The rich would live and the poor would die" and "Little bee sucks the blossom, big bee gets the honey" floaters in his version. - PJS
John Greenway's "Wild Rover," which seems to be pretty well mixed, refers to the prisoner being sent to "Nugget." This is surely an error for "Newgate," the famous English prison. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: MA069

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Wild Rovers

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you wild rovers and listen for a while... For love has been the ruin of many a man." The singer warns against love: "When you are married you are not your own man." He describes some of his miseries, and wishes luck to single and married alike
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love marriage wife warning drink
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 673, "Wild Rovers" (1 text)
Roud #4652
File: R673

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Wild Sliav Gallen Brae

See Wild Slieve Gallon Brae (File: HHH540)

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Wild Slieve Gallion Braes

See Farewell to Slieve Gallen (File: HHH795)

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Wild Slieve Gallon Brae

DESCRIPTION: The singer is in love with a false-hearted girl. He sets out to view her home, but somehow goes astray and ends on Slieve Gallon Brae. There he meets a girl whose love has also been untrue. They marry and live happily on Slieve Gallon Brae
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry Collection)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal abandonment rambling marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H540, pp. 468-469, "Wild Slieve Gallon Brae" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 9A, "Wild Sliav Gallen Brae" (1 text)
Roud #3577
NOTES: Not to be confused with several other songs with similar titles. - RBW
File: HHH540

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Wild Stormy Deep

DESCRIPTION: "On the wild stormy deep With Jesus I'll sleep And hold to his loving hand. In a home above I'll be there with God, and rejoice in a happy land." The singer prays, and God frees the singer from burden and sin
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 95, "Wild Stormy Deep" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa095 (Partial)
File: Wa095

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Wild Waves Roar, The

DESCRIPTION: "The wild waves roar, And my ship's a wreck On a foreign shore"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: sea ship shore wreck
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1757, "The Wild Waves Roar" (1 fragment)
Roud #13518
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81757

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Wilderness Lady, The

DESCRIPTION: At dinner in a London lord's house an English lady toasts King William "and to all his strong forces." The next day the "Wilderness lady" challenges her to a duel. Wounded, the English lady cries for mercy. An English lord interrupts the duel.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Karpeles-Newfoundland)
KEYWORDS: fight rescue royalty nobility
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Karpeles-Newfoundland 34, "The Wilderness Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2295
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A Health to the King
NOTES: The "King William" of this song is presumably William III (reigned 1688-1694 with Mary II; sole reign 1694-1702). William I the Conqueror/Bastard (reigned 1066-1087) and William II Rufus (1087-1100) are certainly too early. William IV (1830-1837) is chronologically possible, but his claim to the throne was unchallenged.
If the song were set in Ireland, I would consider that interpretation certain. But William III was also controversial in England, as he overthrew James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. - RBW
File: KaNew034

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Wildwood Flower

DESCRIPTION: The singer prepares to deck herself out with flowers in her hair, in response to her former lover who now has abandoned her. She promises to behave joyfully and forget she knew him, and make him regret that he "neglected his pale wildwood flower"
AUTHOR: Words: Maud Irving / Music: Joseph Philbrick Webster (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment beauty flowers
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 263, "The Pale Wildwood Flower" (3 texts plus a fragment)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 248-249, "[Pale Wildwood Flower]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 50-51, "Wildwood Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 798, "The Wildwood Flower" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 500-501, "The Wildwood Flower" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 798A)
Silber-FSWB, p. 166, "Wildwood Flower" (1 text)
DT, WILDWFLR*
Roud #757
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Wildwood Flower" (Victor V-40000, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4432, 1934; rec. 1928) (Melotone 5-11-65, 1935); as "The A. P. Carter Family," "Wildwood Flower" (Acme 996, n.d.)
Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle, "Wildwood Flower" (Columbia 21138, 1953)
John D. Mounce et al, "Wildwood Flower" (on MusOzarks01)
James Roberts, "Frail Wildwood Flower" (Gennett 6566 [as Wikel Miller]/Conqueror 7254 [as Joe Reeves], 1929; rec. 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Reuben James" (tune)
File: JRSF248

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Wilkes Lovell [Laws E9]

DESCRIPTION: Two convicts escape from prison. Sheriff Wilkes Lovell, informed of this by his wife, pursues and recaptures them. The singer, who is one of the escapees, warns his listeners not to imitate him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (New Green Mountain Songster)
KEYWORDS: prison escape police wife
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Laws E9, "Wilkes Lovell"
DT 759, WILKLOVL
Roud #2247
File: LE09

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Wilkins and Dinah

See Vilikens and His Dinah [LawsM31A/B] (File: LM31)

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Will O'Riley

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

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Will Ray

DESCRIPTION: "Oh Papa, dear Papa, please tell to me Just what you think of Will Ray." The father tells the girl to marry banker John Burns instead of poor Will. The daughter points out that Burns has just gone bankrupt and Ray become rich; the father relents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage money father lover children
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hudson 135, pp. 281-282, "Will Ray" (1 text)
Roud #4317
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Billy Grimes the Rover" (plot)
cf. "Peggy in the Morning" (plot)
NOTES: This looks to me very much like an elaboration of "Billy Grimes the Rover." But the plot about John Burns is not normal to that piece, so I have tentatively separated them. - RBW
File: Hud135

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Will Stewart and John [Child 107]

DESCRIPTION: Will loves the Earl of Mar's daughter. His brother John successfully woos her for him. She sets requirements which he meets, but her father is against the match despite learning they are of high degree. They elope, gaining acceptance after a child is born
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1750 (Percy manuscript)
KEYWORDS: love courting nobility father elopement childbirth
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 107, "Will Stewart and John" (2 texts)
Roud #3973
File: C107

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Will the Circle Be Unbroken

DESCRIPTION: The singer witnesses his/her mother being carried off for burial. Her example is praised. The singer wonders if they will meet again: "Will the circle be unbroken, By and by, Lord, by and by? There's a better home a-waiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky."
AUTHOR: Words: Ada R. Habershon?
EARLIEST DATE: Original text and tune copyright 1908; later tune: 1927 (recording, Metropolitan Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious death funeral burial mother
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 635, "Can the Circle Be Unbroken?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 440-442, "Can the Circle Be Unbroken?" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 635)
Silber-FSWB, p. 371, "Can the Circle Be Unbroken?" (1 text)
DT, CRCUNBRK*
Roud #3409
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (Perfect 16101, 1935) (OKeh 05587 [as Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys], 1940)
Alphabetical Four, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" (Decca 7601, 1939; rec. 1938)
Clarence Ashley, Clint Howard et al, Jean Ritchie, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (on WatsonAshley01)
Bud & James Billings [pseuds. for Frank Luther and, perhaps, Carson Robison], "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (Bluebird B-6406, 1936; rec. 1928)
Brown's Ferry Four, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (King 530, 1946)
Rev. J. C. Burnett, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (Columbia 14385-D, 1928)
The Carter Family, "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" (Conqueror 8529, 1935) (Columbia 20268, prob. c. 1946)
Doc Hopkins, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (Radio 1411, n.d.)
Hallelujah Trio, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" (London 16020, 1950)
Frank & James McCravy, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (Brunswick 194, 1928; Jewel 5907/Oriole 1907/Perfect 12601/Challenge 876, 1930; Conqueror 7794, 1931; rec. 1927) (OKeh 45433, 1930)
William McEwan, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" (Columbia A1364, 1913; rec. c. 1912)
Metropolitan Quartet, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" (Edison 52111, 1927)
Monroe Brothers, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (Montgomery Ward M-7142, 1937)
Morris Brothers, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken Bye And Bye?" (Bluebird B-8103, 1939)
Silver Leaf Quartette of Norfolk, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (OKeh 8777/ARC 6-12-63/Vocalion 04395, 1930)
Frank Stamps & his All-Star Quartet, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (Montgomery Ward M-8194, 1939)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (Champion 16035, 1930; Champion 45123 [as Welling Family Trio], c. 1935)
Westbrook Conservatory Entertainers, "Will That Circle Be Unbroken" (Broadway 8194, late 1920s)
J. B. Whitmire's Blue Sky Trio, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken There" (Bluebird B-8512, 1940)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Since I Laid My Burden Down" (tune)
NOTES: According to Cohen, the original version of this had words by Ada R. Habershon and music by Charles Gabriel and was published in 1907/8. That version, however, had a completely different tune from the familiar Carter Family version; the song has probably been subjected to recensional handling -- possibly by A. P. Carter. - RBW
File: R635

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Will the Weaver [Laws Q9]

DESCRIPTION: The newly married man regrets his hasty marriage. He is told that his wife is seeing Will the Weaver. He surprises them at his home. Will hides up the chimney. The husband smokes him out, beats him, and sends him away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1793 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: marriage infidelity humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Laws Q9, "Will the Weaver"
GreigDuncan7 1461, "Will the Weaver" (11 texts, 7 tunes)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 64-65, "Willy Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 47, "Bill the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 199, "Father, Father, I Am Married" (1 fragment, so short that it could be a form of "Devilish Mary" but seeming by its form to belong here )
Chappell-FSRA 53, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 237-238, "Will the Weaver" ("Will de Weaver") (1 text; tune on p. 418)
Brewster 98, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 140, "Will, the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 154, "Will the Weaver" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Shellans, p. 22, "Johnny and Old Mr. Henly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 133, "Bill the Weaver" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 152-154, "Everyday Dirt" (1 text, 1 tune, rewritten by Dave McCarn)
Chase, pp. 184-185, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H682, p. 505, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 146-147, "Will the Weaver" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 170, "Everyday Dirt" (1 text)
DT 345, WILLWVR1* WILLWVR2* WILLWVR3 WILLWVR4
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 130, "Will the Weaver" (reproduction of a broadsheet designed to be folded into a booklet with four songs; this is the only song with its title and initial stanzas on the visible side)
Roud #432
RECORDINGS:
Bill Carlisle, "Jumpin' and Jerkin' Blues" (Vocalion 02984, 1935; Conqueror 8789, 1937; Romeo 70264, prob. 1937, and issues on Banner, Melotone, Oriole and Perfect)
Dave McCarn, "Everyday Dirt" (Victor V-40274, 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Everyday Dirt" (on NLCR02)
Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, "Will the Weaver" (Columbia 15694-D, 1931; rec. 1927; on ConstSor1)
Mike Seeger, "Will the Weaver" (on MSeeger01)
Doc Watson, "Every Day Dirt" (on Watson01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2078), "Will the Weaver" [almost entirely illegible], J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 28(151), "Will, the Weaver," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; Harding B 11(4247), "Will, the Weaver"; Firth c.18(255), Firth c.18(254), "Will the Weaver"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
NOTES: This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LQ09

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Will Ye Gang, Love

See The Rashy Muir (File: GrD61215)

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Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go

DESCRIPTION: As the summer comes in, the singer goes courting (seducing): "Will ye go, lassie, go, And we'll all go together To pull wild mountain thyme All among the blooming heather." He offers her a bower , etc., but will find another girl if she refuses
AUTHOR: Jimmy McPeake?
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (sung by Frank McPeake, according to Hammond-Belfast)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction sex
FOUND IN: Britain Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hammond-Belfast, p. 57, "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 141, "Will You Go, Lassie, Go" (1 text)
DT, WILDMTHY*
Roud #541
NOTES: Sometimes credited to Jimmy McPeake, and this is not improbable (particularly since the text seems fairly fixed), though I have no firm evidence either way. It's the sort of thing that wouldn't show up in the more staid collections....
Even if it isn't traditional, its popularity with revival singers probably means it should be included here.
Roud lumps this with "The Braes o' Balquither." - RBW
Hammond-Belfast: "Frank McPeake said at the time of recording [for the BBC series 'As I Roved Out']: 'There is a song that I heard an old uncle of mine singing years and years ago. It's 'Will ye go, lassie, go?'" - BS
Also sung by David Hammond, "Will Yo Go Lassie, Go?" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959)) Sean O Boyle, notes to David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland": "This is one of the numerous Scots songs that have become localized in Ulster as a result of migratory labor between the North of Ireland and Scotland." - BS
File: FSWB141A

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Will Ye Pad the Road wi' Me?

See Paddle the Road with Me (File: Wa032)

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Will You Go Out West?

DESCRIPTION: The singer is looking for a girl to "go out west with me." He promises happy home -- a log cabin with a dirt floor and a blanket for the door. The girl will help with the farming while the husband goes hunting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: courting exploration home
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 88, "Will You Go Out West?" (1 text+2 fragments, 1 tune)
ST FSC088 (Partial)
Roud #4604
File: FSC088

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Will You Love Me When I Am Bald?

DESCRIPTION: "Will you love me when I am bald? When my hair is smooth and bare? For I must tell you now, sweet love, That I am surely getting there." The singer talks about how lack of hair will affect his behavior, but concludes that his love will still care for him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Henry, collected from Ray Bohanan)
KEYWORDS: hair questions
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 30-31, "Will You Love Me When I Am Bald?" (1 text)
File: MHAp030

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Will You Love Me When I'm Old?

DESCRIPTION: The singer repeatedly asks his true love if she will love him when he is old, tired, gray, etc.: "Life's morn will soon be waning And its evening bells be told, And my heart will know no sadness If you'll love me when I'm old."
AUTHOR: Words: P. Gilsey Cook / Music: Ralph Roland
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (sheet music, LOCSheet, sm1877 03501)
KEYWORDS: age love
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 824, "Will You Love Me When I'm Old?" (1 text)
BrownIII 273, "Will You Love Me When I'm Old?" (1 text plus mention of 5 more)
DT, ARUTRDME
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 38, #4 (1994), p, 49, "Are You Tired of Me, My Darling?" (1 text, 1 tune, the Carter Family version)
Roud #4334
RECORDINGS:
Charles Brook & Charlie Turner, "Will You Love Me When I'm Old" (Columbia 15756-D, 1932; rec. 1931)
Carter Family, "Are You Tired of Me Darling?" (Bluebird B-5956/Montgomery Ward M-4546, 1935)
Bill Cox, "Are You Tired of Me Darling?" (Melotone [Canada] 45092, 1935) (Decca 5497, 1938)
Earl McCoy & Jessie Brock, "Are You Tired of Me Darling?" (Columbia 15499-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Are You Tired of Me Darling" (Brunswick 432, 1930; rec. 1927)
Blind Jack Mathis, "Are You Tired of Me Darling?" (Bluebird B-4956, c. 1933)
Aulton Ray, "Will You Love Me When I'm Old" (Gennett 6129, 1927)
L. K. Reeder, "Will You Love Me When I'm Old" (OKeh 45026, c. 1926; rec. 1925)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1877 03501, "Are you tired of me, darling?" Louis Meyer (Philadelphia), 1877 (tune); also sm1878 05722, "Are you tired of me, darling?" White, Smith & Co (Boston), 1878
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Are You Tired of Me, My Darling?
NOTES: The White Smith & Co sheet music lists the tune as by Fred Kenyon Jones; the Meyer music offers Ralph Roland. The tunes are different, and neither is the one I know (from Ed Trickett, I think), though the Roland tune looks closer.
A song entitled "Will You Love Me, Sweetheart, When I'm Old?" was published by A. J. Lamb and H. W. Petrie in 1895; I do not know if they are the same. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: R824

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Will You Wear Red?

See Jenny Jenkins (File: R453)

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Will You Wear the Red?

See Jenny Jenkins (File: R453)

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Will You Wed with a Tarry Sailor? [Laws K37]

DESCRIPTION: The singer comes back from sea to meet his love Nancy. He asks her if she will marry him. She refuses him. He brings out his money; she changes her mind. With the shoe on the other foot, he refuses her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.13(198))
KEYWORDS: love courting money
FOUND IN: US(SE) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws K37, "Will You Wed with a Tarry Sailor?"
BrownII 109, "Poor Jack" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 65, "Jolly Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 56, "Jack the Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 723, POORJACK
Roud #530
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.13(198), "Tarry Sailor," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 11(3735), Harding B 25(1884), Harding B 17(307a), Harding B 11(778), "Tarry Sailor"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Saucy Sailor (Jack and Jolly Tar II)" [Laws K38] (plot)
File: LK37

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William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10]

DESCRIPTION: Riley and his sweetheart flee from her father, but are overtaken. Riley is jailed; the father asks that he be executed or transported. Colleen pleads for and wins his freedom instead. (Riley leaves the country, wearing the girl's ring for remembrance)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1829 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.11(51))
KEYWORDS: courting prison reprieve emigration elopement
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Jamaica Australia
REFERENCES (25 citations):
Laws M10, "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)"
Greig #143, p. 1, "Willie Reilly" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1097, "Willie Reilly" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Belden, pp. 289-290, "William Riley" (1 text)
Randolph 115, "Willie Riley" (1 short text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
BrownII 128, "William Riley" (1 text)
Brewster 50, "William Reilly" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 91, "Willy Reilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 137, "Willie Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 74, "Courtship of Willie Riley" (1 very long text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 741-743, "Willie Riley" (2 texts)
FSCatskills 53, "Fair Julian Bond" (1 text, 1 tune. The opening of this ballad clearly resembles Laws M9, but the conclusion is closer to M10. The fragmentary state of the text may indicate a conflate version)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 8, "Willie Reilly and his Cailin Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 40-42, "Willie Reilly and His Dear Colleen Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 99-102, "The Trial of Willy Reilly" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 86, "Willy Reilly" (1 text)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 31-32, "Willie Riley" (1 text, tune referenced)
SHenry H234, pp. 436-437, "Willy Reilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 101, "William Reilly" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 224-225, "Reily's Jailed" (1 text, 1 tune, s very short version placed here on the basis of its first stanza)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, pp. 482-483, "William Reily's Courtship," "Reily's Trial," "Reily's Answer, Releasement, and Marriage with Coolen Bawn" (sic.) (source notes only)
DT 577, RILTRIAL
ADDITIONAL: Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 244-247, "Willy Reilly"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 302-304, "Willy Reilly" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 382-384, 516, "Willy Reilly"
ST LM10 (Full)
Roud #538
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Willie Reilly and his Cailin Ban" (on IRTLenihan01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(51), "Riley and Colinband," T. Batchelar (London), 1817-1828; also Firth b.27(138), Harding B 16(228b), Harding B 25(1626)[many words illegible], "Riley and Colinband"; 2806 b.11(52), Johnson Ballads 2976, "William Riley and Colinband"; Harding B 11(1852), "Riley and Colinban"; Harding B 28(190)[some words illegible or lost], "Riley and Collinband"
LOCSinging, sb40465a, "Reily's Courtship", H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864) [This is part 1];, sb40464b, "Reily's Releasement and Marriage with Cooleen Bawn", H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864 [This is part 2]
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lady Elspat" [Child 247] (plot)
cf. "William Riley's Courtship" [Laws M9]
cf. "Mary Acklin (The Squire's Young Daughter)" [Laws M16] (plot)
cf. "Mary Neal" [Laws M17] (tune)
cf. "A Maid in Bedlam" (theme of a maid in Bedlam)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jamie Reilley
The Colleen Bawn
NOTES: Meredith/Anderson states that this song is based on an incident which took place in Donegal around 1745. Reilly, a Catholic, eloped with the protestant daughter of Squire Folliard -- an illegal match at the time. See Laws, who quotes the relevant details from Joyce.
Laws, following Cox, considers the three William Riley ballads (William Riley's Courtship [Laws M9], this one, and "Reilly's Answer, Releasement, and Marriage with Coleen Bawn" -- the last not found in tradition, but published by Will Carleton in 1855) to be a set of songs about the same character. The songs overlap, however, and may be the result of separate composition, with either M9 or M10 inspiring the other two. - RBW
All of the Bodleian broadsides corrupt what O'Conor, at least, has as "Colleen Bawn." O'Conor does not explain his sources.
Charles Gavan Duffy, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland, 1845, pp. 244-247, has this as "Willy Reilly" and translates "Coolen Bawn" as "fair young girl." - BS
Laws considers Creighton-NovaScotia 74 to be both M9 and M10. This 78 verse version is divided by Creighton into "Riley's Courtship" (26 verses: meets Laws' description of M9), "Trial" (20 verses: meets Laws' description of M10), "Marriage" (32 verses: meets Laws' description "which has not, so far as I know," says Laws, "been recorded from tradition, Riley is sentenced to be transported and is freed through his own petition to the Lord Lieutenant in time to rescue the girl from Bedlam and marry her." What am I missing? As I've noted, Creighton-NovaScotia 74, is one of Laws' sources for M9 and M10: why didn't he consider it for the "not ... recorded" Mx?).
Sparling, 1888: "The story on which this ballad is founded happened some eighty years ago; and as the lover was a Catholic farmer, and the lady's family of high Orange principles, it got a part character, which, no doubt, contributed to its great popularity." "Carleton has made it the foundation of a novel of the same name."
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "William Carlton's novel on Willie Reilly and his Cailin Ban first appeared in 1855 and was a best seller for years." [Though the Barnhart/Halsey New Century Handbook of English Literature (revised edition, Appleton.Century/Crofts, 1967) does not list it among the major works of Carleton (1794-1869). Neither is it mentioned in Patrick C. Power's A Literary History of Ireland, which (p. 149) instead regards his most important work as the 1830-1833 collection Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry. - RBW]
H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: LM10

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William and Dinah

See Vilikens and His Dinah [LawsM31A/B] (File: LM31)

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William and Eliza (Lough Erin's Shore)

DESCRIPTION: Willie is a servant to an English lady on Lough Erin's shore. She falls in love with him. He says her peers will scorn her if they marry, and prepares to leave her service. She begs him to stay; they marry. She comforts him when they leave Lough Erin
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection); 19C (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.9(227))
KEYWORDS: love courting servant nobility money marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H597, pp. 476-477, "Lough Erne's Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9057
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(227), "William and Eliza" or "Lough Erne Shore" ("You tender young lovers, draw near"), W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867 ; also 2806 c.15(162), Harding B 19(3), "William and Eliza" or "Lough Erne Shore"
NOTES: In reading this, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to the angry father who exiled the boy.
Chances are, if you know a song entitled "Lough Erin's Shore," then this isn't it. - RBW
File: HHH597

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William and Ellen

See Earl Brand [Child 7] (File: C007)

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William and Harriet [Laws M7]

DESCRIPTION: Lovers William and Harriet find their marriage plans thwarted by her father. They escape to sea, only to have their ship sink en route. They land upon a desert island, where they die of starvation and/or exposure
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(77))
KEYWORDS: courting ship wreck disaster death father
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So) Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws M7, "William and Harriet"
JHCox 104, "The Rich Merchant" ( text)
DT 741, RCHMRCHT
Roud #536
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(77), "William and Harriet," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth c.12(285), Harding B 15(380a), Harding B 15(379b), Harding B 15(380b), Harding B 16(308c), Johnson Ballads 1557, 2806 c.16(47), 2806 c.14(26), Firth b.26(248) [some lines truncated on the right], Firth c.26(65) [some words illegible], Harding B 16(308b), Harding B 11(3767), "William and Harriet"; 2806 c.14(136), Harding B 11(4221), Harding B 11(3764), "William and Harriet"
Murray, Mu23-y3:010, "William and Herriet" (sic.), unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(90), "William and Herriet" (sic.), unknown, c. 1860-1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "William and Phillis" (theme, tune)
cf. "The Island Unknown" (plot elements)
cf. "Riley's Farewell (Riley to America; John Riley)" [Laws M8]
SAME TUNE:
William and Phillis (File: CrSNB033)
File: LM07

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William and Margaret

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

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William and Mary

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

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William and Mary's Farewell to Ireland

DESCRIPTION: Willy is leaving Ireland and Mary for America. If he would wait a season, she says, she would go with him. He refuses, saying he'll return with gold and take her to America. She says she'll elope with him now. He agrees, they marry and go to America.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Morton-Maguire); c.1850 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(129))
KEYWORDS: courting elopement marriage emigration America Ireland dialog
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Maguire 19, pp. 44-45,110,164, "My Charming Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2900
RECORDINGS:
John Maguire, "My Charming Mary" (on IRJMaguire01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(129), "The Emigrant's Farewell" ("Farewell dear Erin, I now must leave you"), J.O. Bebbington (Manchester), c.1850; also 2806 b.10(88), Harding B 19(59)[some words illegible], 2806 b.9(242), Harding B 19(91), 2806 c.15(70)[almost entirely illegible], "The Emigrant's Farewell"; 2806 c.8(123), Harding B 26(680), "William and Mary's Farewell to Ireland"
Murray, Mu23-y1:109, "The Emigrant's Farewell to Ireland," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Anach Cuain" (tune,according to notes to IRJMaguire01)
File: MoMa019

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William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8]

DESCRIPTION: (William) has been ordered to war. His sweetheart (Nancy) offers to dress in men's clothes and accompany him. William says that Nancy is not strong enough; she assures him she will be. At last he agrees; they are married and go off together
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904
KEYWORDS: separation cross-dressing marriage war
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Laws N8, "William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I)"
Belden, pp. 177-180, "Lisbon" (3 texts, but the third is "The Girl Volunteer")
Randolph 42, "Men's Clothing I'll Put On" (Of Randolph's six texts, Laws puts only "B," "D," and "E" -- the last with melody -- with this song. In fact any of these versions -- especially "B" and "E" -- might be part of "The Banks of the Nile." "A" definitely goes with that piece, and "C" and "F" go with "Jack Monroe")
Chappell-FSRA 67, "Johnnie and Nancy" (1 text)
FSCatskills 29, "It Was Early One Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 61, "Williams and Nancy" (1 text plus mention of 1 more, though the second text has the title "The Banks of the Nile")
Creighton/Senior, pp. 156-158, "William and Nancy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 66, "It Was On One Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 202-205, "Jimmy and Nancy on the Sea" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Fowke/MacMillan 72, "Banks of the Nile" (1 text, 1 tune, considered by Fowke to be an abbreviated, localized version of "William and Nancy (I)" [Laws N8], but it could just as easily be a version of "The Banks of the Nile" [Laws N9])
Mackenzie 35A, "William and Nancy" (1 text)
SharpAp 121, "William and Polly" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 34, "William and Polly (Lisbon)" (1 text, 1 tune, "slightly shortened")
Fuson, pp. 67-68, "Sweet William" (1 text, a compound of the cross-dressing lover songs but more like this than any of the others)
GreigDuncan1 63, "The Sailor and Nancy" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 58-59, "Lisbon" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H561, p. 458, "Lovely Annie (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN1749, "Margaret my sweetest, Margaret I must go" (listed as Laws N4 though the description sounds more like this piece)
DT 442, BANKNIL4 (BANKNIL2*?) BANKNIL3*
Roud #551
RECORDINGS:
Jim Molloy, "Lovely Nancy" (on NFMLeach)
Lee Monroe Presnell, "I Went to See My Molly" (on USWarnerColl01 -- a short text, probably this although it has an American Civil War setting)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(165), "William and Margaret" ("'Twas on a Monday, all in the month of May"), unknown, n.d.
Murray, Mu23-y1:039, "William and Margaret," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jack Monroe" [Laws N7]
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9]
cf. "High Germany"
cf. "The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging)" [Laws O33]
NOTES: The Sacred Harp has a tune "Lisbon" which, like many versions of this song, is in triple time. But based on the versions I've checked, they do not appear to be the same melody. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LN08

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William and Nancy (II) (Courting Too Slow) [Laws P5]

DESCRIPTION: William loves Nancy, but sails away before he has married her. Eventually he learns that she has married another. He sickens with grief. Nancy comes to comfort him. Both eventually die of grief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: courting sailor disease marriage infidelity death
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So) Britain Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws P5, "William and Nancy II (Courting Too Slow)"
Belden, pp. 196-197 "Courting Too Slow" (1 text)
SharpAp 81, "William and Nancy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 317-318, "William and Nancy" (1 text, with local title "Come All Ye Umarried Men"; tune on p. 441)
Logan, pp. 364-365, "Courting Too Slow" (perhaps a comic rewrite of the original version?)
DT 493, WMNANCY
Roud #1918
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonny Brown Jane" (lyrics)
cf. "Courtin' Owre Slow" (theme: lover lost by courting too slowly)
cf. "On Top of Old Smokey" (theme: lover lost by courting too slowly)
File: LP05

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William and Phillis

DESCRIPTION: Phyllis tells William that her father will not have her wed a sailor. She dresses as a sailor and they sail for America. They escape a storm in a longboat and land in America, marry, and live happily.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1174))
KEYWORDS: elopement cross-dressing emigration sea ship shore storm America father sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 33, "Phyllis and Young William" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1429
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1174), "William and Phillis," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(1173), 2806 c.16(159), Harding B 11(4228), Harding B 16(308d), Harding B 11(4227), Harding B 11(4229), Harding B 11(929), "William and Phillis"; Firth c.12(250), 2806 c.16(159), Harding B 11(4226), "William and Philis"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "William and Harriet" (theme; tune per broadsides Bodleian Harding B 11(1174), Bodleian Harding B 11(1173), Bodleian 2806 c.16(159), Bodleian Harding B 11(4226), Bodleian Firth c.12(250), Bodleian 2806 c.16(159), Bodleian Harding B 11(4228))
cf. "The Great Elopement to America" (plot)
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides are more complete than Creighton-SNewBrunswick and are the source for the description; for example, Creighton-SNewBrunswick omits the cross-dressing.
"William and Phillis" is "William and Harriet" with a happy ending. Instead of dying together on a desert island, the lovers land in America, are helped back to health and live happily. - BS
File: CrSNB033

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William and Polly

See William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8] (File: LN08)

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William Atrimatoe Catches Hens

DESCRIPTION: "William Atrimatoe catches hens -- Puts them in pens. Some lay eggs; some lay none. White foor, speckled foot, trip and be gone Your way through the wood."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Mrs. Henry C. Gray, or her maid)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 237, (no title) (1 short text)
File: MHAp237A

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William Baker

DESCRIPTION: "William Baker's now in prison, And shortly hanged be, For the killing of one Prewitt, The world may plainly see." Baker invites Prewitt to join him, then ambushes him. He tells Prewitt's wife that he had abandoned her. But his crimes finally come out
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: prison execution crime lie murder
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 71, pp. 169-170, "William Baker" (1 text)
Roud #4120
NOTES: This song is item dF48 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: CW169

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William Beadle

DESCRIPTION: "A bloody scene I'll now relate Which lately happen'd in a neib'ring state, A murder of the deepest dye, I say...." Beadle "slew Himself, his consort, and his offspring too." The singer laments that such things can happen and hopes for a better day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder family father mother children
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec. 11, 1782 - William Beadle kills his wife, his children, and himself
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 6-7, "(William Beadle)" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lawson Murder (Charlie Lawson)" [Laws F35] (plot)
NOTES: This appears to be simply a broadside, with no hold on tradition (it's lousy poetry), and it doesn't really include enough specific data to identify it with certainty with the case of William Beadle -- but Burt's notes imply that this was clear from the overall presentation of the broadsheet. - RBW
File: Burt006

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William Bluet (Blewitt)

DESCRIPTION: "There was a woman lived in Hampshire, She had one only son, and him she loved most dear." The young man spends his estate, then turns to crime. Taken and condemned, he bids a sad farewell to his mother and is executed. A dove hovers by his dying head
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: death crime punishment mother money bird
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 12, 1726 - Execution of William Blewitt, a convicted housebreaker, pickpocket, and accomplice to murder, in Surrey
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 125, pp. 151-152, "William Bluet" (1 text)
Roud #4298
File: CW151

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William Cook

DESCRIPTION: "Hark, hark, my young friends, it's a melancholy call, The hour of death flying swiftly along." The dying young man (William Cook) reveals that he will miss his family, and describes how he will be buried. He asks to be remembered despite his misdeeds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death burial funeral family
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 608, "William Cook" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3128
File: R608

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William Craig and Bold Manone

See Bold Manan the Pirate [Laws D15] (File: LD15)

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William Glen

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

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William Goebel

DESCRIPTION: "Our grand old state is left in shame Since the death of William Goebel." Goebel's wisdom is praised, but the candidate he was running against, "Taylor saw his plan had failed." Someone, perhaps Taylor, arranges Goebel's death
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: murder political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 30, 1900 (so DAB; Thomas says Feb. 3) - Assassination of William Goebel (1856-1900), formerly a reforming state senator; he was a candidate for governor of Kentucky in 1899, though he used some electioneering maneuvers to gain the nomination. The election outcome was disputed, though the legislature not surprisingly held that he was the winner of the election after his death
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 188-190, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Thomas says that Setters sang this to the tune of "Barbary Ellen," but since she doesn't say *which* tune of "Barbary Ellen," that doesn't help much. - RBW
File: ThBa188

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William Guiseman

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

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William Hall (The Brisk Young Farmer) [Laws N30]

DESCRIPTION: William's parents send him to sea to get him away from his sweetheart, whom they dislike. After a long journey he returns to find his love does not recognize him. He says William is dead. She grieves; he reveals himself and they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: ship separation marriage reunion
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws N30, "William Hall (The Brisk Young Farmer)"
Belden, pp. 156-160, "William Hall" (3 texts)
Randolph 46, "The Brisk Young Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 100, "William Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 40, pp. 154-155, "William Hall" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 265-266, "William Hall" (1 text, with local title "A Soldier Boy" and opening with several stanzas from "Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token)" [Laws N42]; tune on pp. 425-426)
SharpAp 171, "William Hall" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 33, "William Hall" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
JHCox 96, "William Hall" (2 texts, 1 text)
LPound-ABS, 29, pp. 71-72, "The Rich Young Farmer" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 54, "The Rich Young Farmer" (1 text)
DT 458, BRSKFARM
Roud #400
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
File: LN30

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William Hill

DESCRIPTION: William Hill worked land owned by the singer's uncle, who orders Hill to leave the land. Hill refuses and the uncle liquors the singer up to have him kill Hill. He shoots Hill, is convicted and sentenced to hang. His uncle is not punished.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: execution murder drink trial gallows-confessions
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 63-64, "William Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12466
NOTES: Dibblee/Dibblee: "[The singer] said William Hill was killed here in Prince Edward Island by his nephew." - BS
File: Dib063

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William Hollander

See The Flying Cloud [Laws K28] (File: LK28)

---

William Johnston of Ballykilbeg

DESCRIPTION: The singer loves Ireland and "Fenians and traitors I'll ever disown," but cannot "set Erin's old harp above the crown." The Protestant boys wave Purple and Orange flags, hold King William's memory in esteem and toast William Johnston of Ballykilbeg.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (OrangeLark)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic political
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OrangeLark 37, "William Johnston of Ballykilbeg" (1 text)
NOTES: "The redoubtable William Johnston [1829-1902] of Ballykilbeg [near Downpatrick, Co Down] was a legend in his own lifetime ... an Orange and Protestant folk hero second only to that other William of 'glorious, pious and immortal memory'." He led the campaign against the Party Processions Act. "It was his opposition to this legislation which was to make William Johnston of Ballykilbeg a folk-hero" [see "Bangor and No Surrender" and references there]. Johnston was elected M.P. in 1868. The law was repealed in 1872. After some time away from Commons he was reelected in 1885 and remained until his death. He opposed Gladstone's Home Rule bills. (source: Ian McShane, "William Johnston of Ballykilbeg" on OrangeNet site) - BS
Bardon, pp. 354-355, describes Johnston's rise to prominence as follows: "Against the advice of the Irish Grand Lodge of the Orange Order, William Johnston announced that he would lead a great parade from Newtownards to Bangor on 12 July 1867 in open defiance of the Party Processions Act. Johnston, owner of a small Co. Down estate and publisher of loyalist ballads, novels, and tracts, believed that if Catholics could turn funerals and unveilings into political demonstrations, Orangemen should be able to march ummolested by the law." (Which sounds reasonable until one realizes how often such marches ended in violence.) Reportedly the crowd occupied eight acres, which means it probably numbered in the tens of thousands.
Bardon, p. 355: "Johnston defiantly refused an apology to the authorities and in February 1868 he was sentenced to serve a short spell in prison.... Seen now as a martyr, 'fearless' and 'indomitable', on his release he was given a rapturous reception." He went on to call for the formation of an Orange Party.
Kee, pp. 101-102, writes, "The radical streak in the Orange Society's activity was represented by William Johnston of Ballykilbeg House, the Grand Master of County Down, who, in March 1868, was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for marching, in defiance of the Party Proessions Act, from Newtownards to Bangor at the head of a crowd of twenty to thirty thousand with beating drums, orange flags and a band playing the 'Protestant Boys' and other provocative tunes.
"Though educated opinion in Ulster disliked the Act under which Johnston was sentenced, it did not condemn the sentence itself. And the Protestant Defence Association... was to go out of its way to dissociate itself from the Orange Society altogether....
"Nonetheless, it was with the radical Orangemen that the real vitality of the movement lay, and when Johnston was released from prison in April[,] special trains were run to Belfast for the celebrations."
Bardon, pp. 355-356: "A general election was called soon afterward, and when the Conservatives failed to nominate Johnston for Belfast, he put himself forward in any case" (and of course won).
Bardon, p. 358: "To the delight of his adherents, Johnston of Ballykilbeg got the Party Processions Act repealed by a private member's bill in 1870. The act had become completely unenforceable and was in danger of bringing the law into contempt owing to ludicrous [court] decisions... it seemed barely reasonable to impose fines of forty shillings each on John Kerr, for cursing the Pope, and on George Murray, for cursing the Pope and the Pope's granny; but it was plainly silly to levy the same fine on Teresa Brown for the even-handed naming of her two cats, 'Orange Bill' and 'Papist Kate'."
Johnston would later declare in the Commons that if the Home Rule Bill passed that Ulster would resist "at the point of the bayonet" (Bardon, p. 383), and warned that if the Union between Britain and Ireland were dissolved, "there would at once be a civil war in Ulster" (Kee, p. 104).
Interestingly, in all areas except religions tolerance, Johnston seems to have been well ahead of his time. According to Foster, pp. 389-390, he was born at Ballykilbeg, educated at Dublin's Trinity College, joined the Orange Order in 1848, was MP for Belfast1868-1878, then became inspector of fisheries, but was "dismissed for violent speeches against the Land League and Home Rule party"; returned to parliament in 1885, he remained a member until his death in 1902. He was an "advocate of security of tenure, temperance reform and women's sufferage." Foster lists two novels he wrote: Nightshade (1870) and Under Which King (1873); they are said to be strongly political. As literature, all his writings seem to have been complete failures; while a few things are (of course) found on the Internet, my library reveals nothing at all -- though his poem "Bangor and No Surrender" is in this Index. - RBW
Bibliography

• Bardon: Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ulster, Blackstaff Press, 1992
• Foster: R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600-1972 Penguin, 1988, 1989
• Kee: Robert Kee, The Bold Fenian Men, being volume II of The Green Flag (covering the period from around 1848 to the Easter Rising), Penguin, 1972

Last updated in version 2.5
File: OrLa037

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William O'Roley

See The Mantle So Green [Laws N38] (File: LN38)

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William Reilly

See William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10] (File: LM10)

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William Reilly's Courtship

See William Riley's Courtship [Laws M9] (File: LM09)

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William Riley's Courtship [Laws M9]

DESCRIPTION: William falls in love with Colleen at sight. Although warned about her harsh father, he seeks employment from the old man to be near Colleen. At last he asks to marry her. He is fired. The two try to elope. They are captured; the father has Riley jailed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (collected by Olive Dame Campbell; in SharpAp); +1881 (Christie, _Traditional Ballad Airs II_)
KEYWORDS: love courting father elopement prison servant
FOUND IN: US(MA,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws M9, "William Riley's Courtship"
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 96-98, "Willy Reilly's Courtship" (1 text)
Randolph 114, "Coleen Bawn" (1 text, with the name spelled "Coleen" in the title but "Colleen" in the text; 1 tune)
FSCatskills 53, "Fair Julian Bond" (1 text, 1 tune. The opening of this ballad clearly resembles Laws M9, but the conclusion is closer to M10. The fragmentary state of the text may indicate a conflate version)
LPound-ABS, 38, pp.86-89, "William Riley's Courtship" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 74, "Courtship of Willie Riley" (1 very long text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 104, "Loving Reilly" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, pp. 482-483, "William Reily's Courtship," "Reily's Trial," "Reily's Answer, Releasement, and Marriage with Coolen Bawn" (source notes only)
Roud #537
RECORDINGS:
cf. "The Footboy" (plot)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)" [Laws M10]
cf. "Erin's Lovely Home" [Laws M6] (plot)
cf. "Henry Connors" [Laws M5] (plot)
cf. "Jock Scott" (plot)
cf. "The Footboy" (plot)
NOTES: Laws, following Cox, considers the three William Riley ballads (this one, William Reilly's Trial [Laws M10], and "Reilly's Answer, Releasement, and Marriage with Coleen Bawn" -- the last supposedly not found in tradition) to be a set of songs about the same character. The songs overlap, however, and may be the result of separate composition, with either M9 or M10 inspiring the other two. - RBW
Laws considers Creighton-NovaScotia 74 to be both M9 and M10. This 78 verse version is divided by Creighton into "Riley's Courtship" (26 verses: meets Laws' description of M9), "Trial" (20 verses: meets Laws' description of M10), "Marriage" (32 verses: meets Laws' description "which has not, so far as I know," says Laws, "been recorded from tradition, Riley is sentenced to be transported and is freed through his own petition to the Lord Lieutenant in time to rescue the girl from Bedlam and marry her." What am I missing? As I've noted, Creighton-NovaScotia 74, is one of Laws' sources for M9 and M10: why didn't he consider it for the "not ... recorded" Mx?). - BS
File: LM09

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William S. Shackleford

DESCRIPTION: "Though I am doomed to be hanged, in March, on the twenty-eighth day, I fear not the dreadful pang." Shackleford claims he did no wrong in murdering (Davis); it was self-defense. He laments that his account was not believed
AUTHOR: William S. Shackleford?
EARLIEST DATE: 1890 (Chatham Record)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov. 15/16, 1889 - Disappearance of John D. Horton
Nov. 23, 1889 - Discovery of Horton's body, bearing clear evidence of murder
Feb. 1890 - Trial of J. P. Davis (true name: William S. Shackleford) for the murder of Horton
March 28, 1890 - Execution of Davis/Shackleford
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 293, "Last Words of William Shackleford, Executed in Pittsboro, Chatham Co, March 28, 1890" (1 text; the reputed original text is found in the general introduction to items 293 and 294)
Roud #6649
File: BrII293

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William Shackleford's Farewell Song As Sung by Shackleford

See My Warfare Will Soon Be Ended (File: BrII294)

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William Taylor (II)

See Keepers and Poachers (File: K254)

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William Taylor [Laws N11]

DESCRIPTION: Willie is (about to be married when he is) impressed. His love dresses like a man and seeks him. She is revealed as a woman. The captain tells her that William is about to marry another. She shoots him. The captain gives her a command or marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1817 (Journal from the Herald)
KEYWORDS: murder betrayal pressgang disguise cross-dressing sailor
FOUND IN: US(Ap,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES (22 citations):
Laws N11, "William Taylor" (Laws gives a broadside texts on pp. 93-94 of ABFBB)
Greig #101, p. 1, "Billy Taylor" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 169, "Billy Taylor" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Belden, pp. 182-183, "William Taylor" (1 text)
Randolph 67, "Willie Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 106, "William Taylor" (1 text)
SharpAp 61, "William Taylor" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sharp-100E 71, "William Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)\
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 45, "William Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H213, p. 334, "Willie Taylor (a)"; H757, pp. 334-335, "Willie Taylor (b)" (2 texts, 2 tunes, both composite)
JHCox 120, "William Taylor" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 152-154, "William Taylor" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 315-316, "Billy Taylor" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 22, "Willie Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 131, "Willy Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 49, "William Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 32, "Billy Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 46, "Willie Taylor" (2 texts)
Manny/Wilson 61, "Brisk Young Seaman (Willie Taylor)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 94-95, "William Taylor" (1 text, with the ending lost, 1 tune)
DT 443, BLLYTYLR*
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907, p. 326, "The Female Lieutenant; or, Faithless Lover Rewarded"; p. 327, "Billy Taylor" (2 texts)
Roud #158
RECORDINGS:
Joseph Taylor, "Bold William Taylor" (on Voice06)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(233), "Bold William Taylor ," H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Firth c.12(231), Firth c.12(234), Harding B 11(391), Harding B 11(3010)[some words illegible], "Bold William Taylor"; Harding B 25(2069), "William Taylor"; Firth c.12(232)[some words illegible], "The Female Lieutenant" or "Faithless Lover Rewarded"
LOCSinging, as113210, "William Taylor," Leonard Deming (Boston), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Une Belle Recompense (A Beautiful Reward)" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bold William Taylor
NOTES: Belden's version of this song ends with the girl drowning herself in grief. Laws mentions this only in connection with the Belden text, but it appears that Randolph's version also ends this way (it says only that the girl drowned, but Randolph marks a missing verse).I initially though this an Ozark attempt to moralize the song. But it occurs also in Brown. Cox has a similar, slightly less heavy-handed attempt; the girl is arrested but her fate not listed. Perhaps it's a general American urge to punish the "crime." - RBW
She likewise drowns herself in all three of Sharp's texts. - PJS
The "Bold William Taylor" broadsides end in marriage; "William Taylor" and "The Female Lieutenant" end in command. - BS
C. H. Firth treats his "Billy Taylor" as "A Burlesque Ballad" of his other text (in which the sailor is called "William Taylor"); he describes it as Sung by Mr. Emery, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Still, they are clearly the same song, and both end with the girl as "lieutenant of the Thunder Bomb". The mention of bomb ships (mortar vessels) strongly dates those versions, at least, to the eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
For notes on legitimate historical examples of women serving in the military in disguise, see the notes to "The Soldier Maid."
It is probably just coincidence, but in 1804, shortly before the earliest attested date of this ballad, a book by Robert Kirby described the exploits of a disguised female sailor. Her real name, supposedly, was Mary Anne Talbot, and she took the name John Taylor -- and she served for several years at sea, aboard both merchant and naval vessels, and was wounded before finally claiming discharge on the grounds of her sex. (see David Cordingly, Women Sailors and Sailors' Women, Random House, 2001 [I use the undated, but later, paperback edition], pp. 76-77). Cordingly says that Talbot's tale is fictional, but that would not have been known at the time. Could Talbot's alternate name have supplied the name of the character in this song? Probably not, but it's an interesting coincidence. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LN11

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William the Sailor

See The Jolly Young Sailor and the Beautiful Queen [Laws O13] (File: LO13)

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William's Return to the Banks of Sweet Dundee (Answer to Undaunted Mary)

DESCRIPTION: William, impressed to keep him from Mary, is wounded in a sea battle and discharged. He returns. Unrecognized, he tells Mary that William has fallen (died, she assumes). She weeps. He reveals himself. They marry with his pension and her inheritance.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(91))
KEYWORDS: love marriage war return reunion money injury sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #80, p. 2, "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1046, "William's Return to the Banks of Sweet Dundee" (2 texts)
Roud #5649
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(91), "Answer to Undaunted Mary" or "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" ("It's of a pretty ploughboy young William was his name"), W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855; also Firth c.12(258), Harding B 11(92), Firth c.18(252), "Answer to Undaunted Mary" or "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" ("It's of a pretty ploughboy young William was his name"); 2806 c.16(53), Harding B 11(1429), "Answer to Undaunted Mary" or "The banks of Sweet Dundee" ("Young William was a ploughboy, the truth I will unfold"); Harding B 11(93), Harding B 17(10b), "Answer to Undaunted Mary" ("Young William was a ploughboy the truth I'll unfold")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of Dundee (Undaunted Mary)" [Laws M25] (prequel)
cf. "The Banks of the Inverness" (another Laws M25 sequel)
File: GrD1046

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Willie (I)

DESCRIPTION: Johnson tells Willie that if he comes to his father's house, he'll shoot him. He goes; Johnson kills him, then falls on his knees with grief. He turns to drink; when he returns, Officer O'Daniel arrests him. The hearse takes Willie to the cemetery
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Cotten
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (copyright, recording)
KEYWORDS: grief jealousy warning fight violence crime murder prison death burial police
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Elizabeth Cotten, "Willie" (on Cotten03)
NOTES: According to Cotten, Willie was a person, a "kind of tease. He found Johnson couldn't take it. And he'd tease him about his girlfriends...just say anything. And Johnson would believe it, and they said he got so mad he jumped on him then, said 'The next time you come to my father's house I'm going to kill you..' ..He just shot that boy, he shot him dead...I'll never forget that." The song, not traditional, is by a traditional performer and created in traditional style, so I index it. - PJS
File: RcECWill

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Willie (II)

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

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Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter [Child 102]

DESCRIPTION: Willie serves Earl Richard, loves and impregnates his daughter. Fearing Richard's wrath, they escape to the woods where the babe is born. Richard seeks his vanished daughter, finds her (alive/dead), accepts the child, and names him Robin Hood.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: love pregnancy nobility escape reunion childbirth Robinhood
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(AP)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Child 102, "Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter" (2 texts)
Bronson 102, "The Birth of Robin Hood (Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter)" (2 versions+1 in addenda)
OBB 113, "The Birth of Robin Hood" (1 text)
Roud #3910
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Willie o Douglas Dale [Child 101]" (plot)
NOTES: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117].
Bronson is of the opionion that this is "a mere rifacimento of [Child] No. 101," "Willie o Douglas Dale," and it is difficult to argue the point -- although the link to Robin Hood is a rather startling twist. But this idea can hardly be traditional; it is probably the result of one of those attempts to make Robin a nobleman. This would seem to imply that the Richard involved is Earl of Huntington. Of course, during the period when Robin Hood might have been born, the Earls of Huntington were Scots (eventually the Bruce family held the earldom), and none of them were named Richard.
Bronson also notes that Aunt Molly Jackson, responsible for the American version {Bronson's #2}, had seen Buchan's text. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C102

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Willie and Lady Maisry [Child 70]

DESCRIPTION: (The lady invites Willie to her bower.) On his way he kills all her father's guards (including her brother). She welcomes him but worries about the blood. Her father discovers them together and kills Willie. The lady (dies of a broken heart/runs mad).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1826 (Motherwell)
KEYWORDS: courting battle death family brother father murder madness
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 70, "Willie and Lady Maisry" (2 texts)
Bronson 70, brief comments only
PBB 34, "Willie and Lady Margerie" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 228-230+352-353, "Willie and Lady Maisry" (1 text)
DT 70, WILMAISY*
Roud #198
File: C070

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Willie and Lady Margerie

See Willie and Lady Maisry [Child 70] (File: C070)

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Willie and Mary

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

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Willie and Mary (II)

See The Silver Dagger (I) [Laws G21] (File: LG21)

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

DESCRIPTION: A beggar comes to Mary's door three years after Willie went to see. He tells a fortune: Willie is shipwrecked and poor, and will never return to Mary. She says she will take him in any state. The beggar reveals himself as Willie, rich and ready to marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Journal from the Elizabeth)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation marriage disguise prophecy
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England,(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws N28, "Willie and Mary (Mary and Willie; Little Mary; The Sailor's Bride)"
GreigDuncan5 1035, "Willie and Mary Stood by the Seaside" (1 text)
Belden, pp. 152-153, "Mary and Willie" (1 text plus reference to 1 more)
Randolph 57, "Mary and Willie" (2 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Hudson 39, pp. 153-164, "Mary and Willie" (1 text)
Brewster 95, "Willie and Mary" (1 fragment, likely this though it could be any of several disguised-lover songs)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 150-151, "The Single Sailor" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 78-79, "Little Willie and Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H118, pp. 315-316, "Mary and Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 93, pp. 200-202, "Mary and Willie" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 348-349, "William and Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 116-117, "The Beggarman" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 457, WILLMARY*
Roud #348
RECORDINGS:
Marc Williams, "William and Mary" (Brunswick 274, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Little Willie
William and Mary
Little Mary, the Sailor's Bride
File: LN28

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Willie and Mary Stood by the Seaside

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

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Willie and Me

DESCRIPTION: The singer sees two birds on a tree and "thinks I noo that unco like Willie and me." The birds sing, cuddle, court, and "there [sic] herts were as happy as happy could be,"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 943, "Willie and Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6758
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Howes o' Glenorchy" (tune, per GreigDuncan5)
File: GrD5943

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Willie Angler

See Willie Archer (The Banks of the Bann) (File: HHH614)

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Willie Archer (The Banks of the Bann)

DESCRIPTION: Willie (Archer/Angler/Ingram) wanders by the Bann, meets a young girl, and seduces her. Afterward, he tells her that he cannot marry her because he is an apprentice. She asks his name; he gives it. She (?) warns young girls against men like him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(258a))
KEYWORDS: courting seduction apprentice abandonment sex
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H614, p. 384, "Willie Angler/The Banks of the Bann" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBoyle 3, "The Banks of the Bann" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BNKSBANN
Roud #3473
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The Banks of the Bann" (on IRRCinnamond01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(258a), "The River Ban" ("In yonder noisy harbour called the sweet Hilltown"), Angus (Newcastle), 1774-1825; also Harding B 16(13b) , Harding B 11(140), 2806 b.11(263), "The Banks of [the] Band"; 2806 b.11(209), Harding B 25(108), "[The] Banks of the Ban"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tripping Over the Lea" [Laws P19] (plot)
NOTES: Traditional singers tend to call this "The Banks of the Bann." But I use the title "Willie Archer" to prevent confusion with all the other songs of that title. - RBW
OBoyle: "The ... reference to Willie's apprenticeship in Raithfriland [Riverhead town in Harding B 17(258a)] would date the song sometime in the nineteenth century when the home-weaving of linen in eastern Ulster was superseded by the introduction of the power loom." - BS
File: HHH614

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Willie Broon

DESCRIPTION: "It was by a fause young man, Willie Broon, That I was led astray He took me frae my parents and my happy, happy home, And has left me in the wild wilds to roam, to roam, to roam, And has left me in the wild woods to roam"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity nonballad rambling
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1150, "Willie Broon" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Roud #6821
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jeemsey Brine
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan6 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61150

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Willie Dear

DESCRIPTION: "I wisht I could see my Willie dear (x2), I used to think that I'd be the one To marry my lovin' Willie dear." The singer offers to write to Willie, and wishes she were a wild rose or a bee that she might see him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love separation
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 817, "Willie Dear" (1 text)
Roud #7432
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Free Little Bird" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This song either derives from "Free Little Bird" or borrows heavily from it. But with no tune, no chorus, and hardly any plot, it's hard to prove the matter either way. - RBW
File: R817

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Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt) [Laws G19]

DESCRIPTION: A girl has been advised against flirting, but does it anyway. When her love Willie comes to her, she teasingly says she will not marry him. He drowns himself in the millpond. He is found with a rose from her hair at his lips
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting suicide drowning flowers
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws G19, "Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt")
Cambiaire, pp. 49-50, "Willie Down by the Pond" (1 text)
BrownII 275, "They Say It is Sinful to Flirt" (1 text plus mention of six more)
Shellans, p. 41, "SInful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 772, SINFLIRT
Roud #421
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Mountain Singers, "Sinful to Flirt" (Columbia 15678-D, 1931; rec. 1930)
Delmore Brothers, "They Say It's Sinful to Flirt" (Bluebird B-7192, 1937)
Sim Harris, "Sinful to Flirt" (Homestead 16500, late 1920s)
Louisiana Lou, "Sinful to Flirt" (Bluebird B-5424, 1934)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Simple to Flirt" (Brunswick 578, 1931; rec. 1930)
Riley Puckett, "It's Simple To Flirt" (Columbia 15036-D, 1925)
Ernest V. Stoneman "Sinful to Flirt" (OKeh 40384, 1925) (Pathe 32271/Perfect 12350/Challenge 666/Conqueror 7064/Cameo 8220/Romeo 600/Lincoln 2825/Banner 2158/Domino 3985/Regal 8346/Homestead 16500/Oriole 947, 1927); "It's Sinful to Flirt" (Edison 52388, 1928) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5547, 1928)
Tom Watson, "It's Simple to Flirt" (Silvertone 3263, 1926)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "She Said She Was Only Flirting"
cf. "The Little White Rose" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sinful Flirting
Poor Willie Dead and Gone
File: LG19

---

Willie Drowned in Yarrow

DESCRIPTION: Willie's sweetheart waits for him to come and marry her. She asks if the singer had seen Willie. She searches for him. In a crack in a rock she finds him drowned in Yarrow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Whitelaw) but see the note quoting Whitelaw.
KEYWORDS: love drowning
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #113, pp. 1-2, "Willie's Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1230, "Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (3 texts plus a single verse on p. 581, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 456, "Willie's Drowned in Yarrow"
Roud #6854
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215]" (story) and references there
cf. "Willie's Drowned in Gamerie" (story)
cf. "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (tune, per GreigDuncan6)
NOTES: Child 215A's four verses are included in Greig #113's 12 verses.
Whitelaw: "This is a fragment [11 verses; essentially the same as Greig minus a verse repetition] of a very old and pathetic song." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61230

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Willie Grahame

DESCRIPTION: Willy loves and murders his neighbor's/master's daughter. Following her dying advice he flees to sea. The ship won't sail. The captain says there must be a murderer on board. The lot falls on Willy. He confesses, is imprisoned and sentenced to die.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: love execution murder prison sea ship ritual
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #166, pp. 2-3, "Willie Graham" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 190, "Willie Grahame" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #953
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22]" (Jonah theme) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Wullie Gray
NOTES: The theme from Jonah 1:4-15: a man on board hiding guilt is the cause of "such a great tempest ... upon the sea that the ship was in danger of breaking up" [Jonah 1:4].
The confusion between this ballad and "Captain Glen"/"The New York Trader" (The Guilt Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22] is illustrated not only by the GreigDuncan2 notes but by GreigDuncan2 191A of "Captain Glen" in which the captain's name is William Graham. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD2190

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Willie Gray

DESCRIPTION: "My schoolmates now I leave you I bid you a fond farewell." The boy departs his home "For a sailor boy to be." He bids farewell to his family and asks those around him to remember him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1846 (Journal from the Coral)
KEYWORDS: sailor family farewell youth
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 182-183, "Willie Gray" ( text)
Roud #2056
File: SWMS182

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Willie Lamb and Jean Beith

DESCRIPTION: A laddie "swore he would make her [Jean] his wife" but thought "to prefer a single life." Thinking she is pregnant they send for a doctor who prescribes a cure for an illness. She recovers. They marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love marriage medicine disease doctor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 986, "Willie Lamb and Jean Beith" (1 text)
Roud #6735
NOTES: GreigDuncan5 speculates that "Moses Hunter and Johnnie Smith ... were involved in its composition." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD5986

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Willie Lennox

See Lake of Cool Finn, The (Willie Leonard) [Laws Q33] (File: LQ33)

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Willie Leonard

See Lake of Cool Finn, The (Willie Leonard) [Laws Q33] (File: LQ33)

---

Willie Macintosh [Child 183]

DESCRIPTION: Willie Macintosh (probably in revenge for the slaying of the Earl of Murray; see Child 181) swears he will burn Auchindown, even if Huntly murders him. Macintosh succeeds in his efforts
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1808 (Finlay)
KEYWORDS: feud revenge fire
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1592 - Vendetta between the Earl of Huntly and Clan Macintosh
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 183, "Willie Macintosh" (2 texts)
Bronson 183, "Willie Macintosh" (1 version)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 264-266, "Bonny Willie Macintosh" (1 text, learned in Scotland)
Friedman, p. 266, "Willie Macintosh" (1 text)
OBB 134, "Willie Macintosh"
Roud #4010
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Burning of Auchindown
NOTES: The Willie Macintosh of this ballad was an ally of the Earl of Murray; [to avenge] Murray's death, he and his followers harried the Earl of Huntly, whose followers eventually caught up with Macintosh's men and defeated them. Contrary to the ballad, this Willie didn't burn Auchindown castle; that had been burned by another Willie Macintosh forty years before. - PJS
The only [known] tune [for this song] was miraculously preserved by either [Ewan] MacColl's father or else his mother. Yeah, sure! - AS
And Barry et al argue that the piece wasn't really meant to be sung. But even Bronson admits the effectiveness of the tune supplied by MacColl. - RBW
File: C183

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Willie Man, He Leads the Van

DESCRIPTION: Willie leads the vanguard, Florence follows, Sawney "goes on wi' speed, Wi' legs as lang's a swallow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: army nonballad racing horse
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1772, "Willie Man, He Leads the Van" (1 text)
Roud #13019
NOTES: Is this about soldiers (as Ben Schwartz seems to think) or about horseracing? I've used keywords for both to allow for ambiguity. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1772

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Willie McGee McGaw

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

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Willie Moore

DESCRIPTION: Handsome young Willie Moore has courted and won the heart of fair Annie. Her parents do not approve of him. When Annie realizes her parents will not relent, she runs away and dies (kills herself?). Willie takes to wandering (and dies of a broken heart?)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Burnett & Rutherford)
KEYWORDS: courting love death separation hardheartedness father mother suicide burial
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 795, "Willie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 90-92, "Willie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 795)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 36, "Willie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 140, "Willie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WILLMOOR*
ST R796 (Full)
Roud #4816
RECORDINGS:
[Richard] Burnett & [Leonard] Rutherford, "Willie Moore" (Columbia 15314-D, 1927; on AAFM1, BurnRuth01, ConstSor1, KMM)
Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton, "Willie Moore" (on WatsonAshley01)
Doc Watson, "Willie Moore" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
NOTES: Randolph's informant, Paul Wilson, reported meeting a Rev. William Moore in 1936 who claimed this song was about him. This is one of those instances where one would prefer documentation. - RBW
File: R796

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Willie O (I)

See Mary o' the Dee (Mary's Dream) [Laws K20] (File: LK20)

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Willie O (II)

See Willy O! (File: CrMa113)

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Willie o Douglas Dale [Child 101]

DESCRIPTION: Willie goes to serve at the English court. He loves and impregnates the king's daughter, Dame Oliphant. They leave the court; the child is born in the woods, They recruit a shepherdess and sail to Douglas Dale where he is lord and she now lady.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1783
KEYWORDS: love royalty nobility pregnancy escape childbirth home
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Child 101, "Willie o Douglas Dale" (4 texts)
Bronson 101, "Willie o Douglas Dale" (2 versions)
GreigDuncan5 1010, "Willie of Douglasdale" (2 texts)
BarryEckstormSmyth p. 454, "Willie o Douglas Dale" (notes only)
Leach, pp. 310-313, "Willie o Douglas Dale" (1 text)
DBuchan 20, "Willie o Douglas Dale" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix) {Bronson's #1}
DT 101, WILDOUG
Roud #65
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter" [Child 102] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Dame Oliphant
File: C101

---

Willie o Winsbury [Child 100]

DESCRIPTION: The king has been a prisoner; he returns to find his daughter looking ill. She proves to be pregnant; her lover was (Willie o Winsbury). The king orders Winsbury hanged, but upon seeing him, understands his daughter's action and allows the two to wed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Percy MS.)
KEYWORDS: pregnancy punishment pardon royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord),England(West,South)) US(Ap,NE) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Child 100, "Willie o Winsbury" (9 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22}
Bronson 100, "Willie o Winsbury" (22 versions+1 in addenda, of which #2 is a Manx fragment which may not be related)
GreigDuncan5 999, "Lord Thomas of Winchbury" (10 texts [including one fragment on pp. 610-611; see NOTES], 7 tunes)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 224-225, "Willie o Winsbury" (notes only, claiming a verse in one of their versions of "Johnny Scot" is actually a "Willie" fragment)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 233-235, "Johnny Barbour" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 57-66, "Willie o Winsbury" (3 texts plus a fragment, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #21, B=#20}
Greenleaf/Mansfield 13, "Young Barbour" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #16, #13, #12}
Peacock, pp. 534-536, "John Barbour" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 14, "Willie o' Winsbury" (2 texts, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #17}
Leach, pp. 308-309, "Willie o Winsbury" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 7, "Willie O Winsbury" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lehr/Best 62, "John Barbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 45, "Willie o Winsbury" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 15, "Lord Thomas of Winesberry" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Combs/Wilgus 29, pp. 123-124, "Willie o Winsbury" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 71-73, "Willie O Winsbury" (1 text)
SHenry H221, pp. 490-491, "The Rich Ship Owner's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT WILLIWIN* WILLIWI2* WILLIWI3*
Roud #64
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "Johnny Barbour" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
Robert Cinnamond, "There Was a Lady Lived in the West" (on Voice17); "John Barlow" (on IRRCinnamond03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lady Diamond" [Child 269] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Seven Sailor Boys
The Rich Shipowner's Daughter
The Prood King of France
What Aileth Thee?
NOTES: Only one king of England since the Norman Conquest has been taken captive by a foreign power: Richard I ("the Lion-Hearted"; "Richard Yes-and-No") was imprisoned by the Duke of Austria. All told, Richard spent only six months of his ten year reign (1189-1199) in England. Unfortunately for the truth of this song, Richard (who may have been homosexual) had no children (at least, none that were legitimate; there was supposedly an illegitimate son. But he was a boy anyway). Few other English kings have been absent from England long enough for the events here to take place.
If we transfer the story to Scotland, we find that David Bruce (reigned 1329-1370) spent much of his life in English captivity, but again had no children. The earlier William the Lion (reigned 1165-1214) also spent time in English hands, and *did* have children (including two daughters, Margaret and Isabella) -- but also had no feelings, and would never have been guilty of such a crime as forgiving someone.
This leaves king John of France (reigned 1350-1364), who was taken prisoner by the Black Prince at Poitiers (1355), as the closest thing we have to an equivalent to the king in this ballad.
In some versions of the song, the hero Willie is himself a king in disguise; there is no evidence of this ever having happened in truth, though it is common in folktale (associated especially with James V of Scotland) - RBW
A fragment, Bodleian, 2806 c.11(90), "Lord Thomas of Winsborough" ("It happen'd on a time when the proud king of France"), unknown, n.d. may be this ballad but I could not download it to verify that.
GreigDuncan5 text count includes one fragment on pp. 610-611 corrected by 999J. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C100

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Willie of Douglasdale

See Willie o Douglas Dale [Child 101] (File: C101)

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Willie of Hazel Green

See John of Hazelgreen [Child 293] (File: C293)

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Willie Rambler

DESCRIPTION: Willie Rambler leaves Lough Erne for Scotland and meets Mary "the pride of Glasgow Town." He asks that she "show to me the way." She offers him five hundred pounds to stay with her. "How could I leave Lough Erne's banks where my young Molly dwells?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1980 (IRHardySons)
KEYWORDS: courting request rejection rambling money Ireland Scotland
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #3576
RECORDINGS:
James Halpin, "Willie Rambler" (on IRHardySons)
NOTES: Notes to IRHardySons quote the sleevenotes to another album which present a different picture than mine: "Willie Rambler ... is quite a businessman and, when asked his price to stay with her, immediately demands five hundred pounds. After the price is agreed he then proceeds to praise the beauties of Ballyshannon and Lough Erne...." (reference is to Dermot McLaughlin notes to Gabriel McArdle, "Dog Big Dog Little," Claddagh CC51CD). - BS
File: RcWilRa

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Willie Reilly

See William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10] (File: LM10)

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Willie Reilly and his Cailin Ban

See William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10] (File: LM10)

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Willie Reilly and His Dear Colleen Ban

See William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10] (File: LM10)

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Willie Slain at Waterloo

See The Mantle So Green [Laws N38] (File: LN38)

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Willie Taylor

See William Taylor [Laws N11] (File: LN11)

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Willie the Waterboy

See The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father [Child 248]; also Sweet William's Ghost [Child 77] (File: C248)

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Willie the Weeper

DESCRIPTION: Willie the Weeper, a chimney sweep, is a hop addict. One night he has a particularly wild dream, with the (Queen of somewhere) making him promises. The further course of the ballad varies, but usually describes a crash
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: drugs dream
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 507, "Willie the Weeper" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
PBB 115, "Willy the Weeper" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 204-205, "Willy the Weeper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 184-185, "Willie the Weeper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 223, "Willie the Weeper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 103-106, "Willie the Weeper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 123-125, "Willie the Weeper" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 26, "Willy the Weeper" (1 text)
DT, WILLWEP1 WILLWEP2
Roud #977
RECORDINGS:
Louis Armstrong, "Willie the Weeper" (Vocalion 3381, 1937)
Roy Evans, "Willie the Weeper" (Columbia 15687-D, 1931; rec. 1928)
Ernest Rogers, "Willie the Chimney Sweeper" (Columbia 15012-D, 1925) (Victor 20502, 1927)
Marc Williams, "Willie the Weeper" (Brunswick 240, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cocaine Lil" (tune)
File: R507

---

Willie Warfield [Laws I20]

DESCRIPTION: Willie Warfield, a heavy gambler who does not know when to quit, plays cards with the singer. The singer grows angry and shoots Warfield. He is imprisoned and his family will not help him, but his girlfriend pawns her jewels to raise his bail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: gambling cards murder prison
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Laws I20, "Willie Warfield"
DT 844, WILWARF
Roud #6382
File: LI20

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Willie Was As Fine a Sailor

DESCRIPTION: Willie and Mary plan marriage but his ship must "sail for a foreign land." If he proves false he prays her spirit haunt him until he dies. He is false. His captain writes Mary. She drowns herself and haunts him until a wave sweeps him overboard.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity curse suicide death sailor ghost
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Manny/Wilson 101, "Willie Was As Fine a Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 82-84, "Now, Wullie was as Nice a Lad" (1 text)
ST MaWi101 (Partial)
Roud #2972
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22]" (Jonah theme) and references there
cf. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly)" [Laws P36A/B]
NOTES: Manny/Wilson ends with the Jonah motif: "When an unknown wave swept o'er the deck, And swept him o'er the side ... The night grew calm and clear." cf. Jonah 1:15 "And they heaved Jonah overboard, and the sea stopped raging." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: MaWi101

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Willie's Drowned at Gamerie

See Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215] (File: C215)

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Willie's Drowned in Gamerie

DESCRIPTION: Annie mourns Willie, drowned in a storm on the way to buy their marriage ring. Her aunt and mother tell her "some ither lad will marry me." Annie says, "My bridal robe's my winding sheet, The auld kirkyard my bed'll be," and dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: grief love ring death drowning storm mother clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #87, p. 1, "Willie's Drowned in Gamerie" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1228, "Willie's Drowned in Gamerie" (1 text)
Roud #6853
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215]" (story) and references there
cf. "Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (story)
File: GrD61228

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Willie's Fatal Visit [Child 255]

DESCRIPTION: Willie, having spent the night with Margaret, leaves before dawn because the cock crowed too soon. On the road he meets a ghost. Since he is a sinner and has not said a prayer for the road, the ghost tears him to shreds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: sex separation ghost death bird nightvisit
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Child 255, "Willie's Fatal Visit" (1 text)
Bronson 255, "Willie's Fatal Visit" (2 versions)
Leach, pp. 623-625, "Willie's Fatal Visit" (1 text)
Roud #244
RECORDINGS:
Jeannie Robertson, "Willie's Fatal Visit (Willie's Fate)" (on FSB5, FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #2}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" [Child 248] (plot)
NOTES: This sounds almost like an "alternate ending" for "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" [Child 248]. Hugh Shields conjectured that that was an "alba song" (see the entry on Child 248 for explanation). This, however, seems to me almost closer to the form Shields describes. - RBW
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Willy's Fatal Visit" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
File: C255

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Willie's Ghost

See Willy O! (File: CrMa113)

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Willie's Lady [Child 6]

DESCRIPTION: Willie travels to woo and wed a wife. His mother, not approving of the bride, casts spells to ensure that she will never bear a child. Willie tricks his mother into believing the baby has been born, and the mother blurts out the way to lift the spell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1783
KEYWORDS: magic mother wife pregnancy childbirth
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Child 6, "Willie's Lady" (1 text)
Bronson 6, "Willie's Lady" (1 version)
GreigDuncan2 346, "Simon's Lady" (1 text)
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 124-127, "Willie's Lady" (1 text, from print rather than tradition)
Leach, pp. 64-66, "Willie's Lady" (1 text)
OBB 6, "Willy's Lady" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 18, "Willie's Lady" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 252-255+356, "Willie's Lady" (1 text)
DBuchan 2, "Willie's Lady" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix) {Bronson's [#1]}
DT 6, WILILADY
Roud #220
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gil Brenton" [Child 5] (lyrics)
NOTES: At least one of the magic tricks described in this song is widespread in folklore: Pregnant women were supposed to remove all knots from their clothing to ease childbirth. - RBW
The Swedish ballad "Den Föaut;rtrollade Barnaföaut;derskan (The Bewitched Mother-to-Be)" is essentially the same story, with variations in detail. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: C006

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Willie's Lost at Gamery

See Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215] (File: C215)

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Willie's Lyke-Wake [Child 25]

DESCRIPTION: Willie wants to know if his sweetheart loves him. On the advice of his (mother), he feigns death and has his lover come to his wake. She despairs. Coming to the wake, she kisses the "corpse," which comes to life to accept her love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: love funeral trick
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Child 25, "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (5 texts)
Bronson 25, "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (4 versions)
GreigDuncan4 843, "Among the Blue Flowers and the Yellow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 110-111, "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (1 text)
OBB 61, "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (1 text)
Flanders-Ancient1, p. 242, "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (1 fragment, two lines only, the second line of which is found in Child's "C" text of "Willie's Lyke-Wake," but a similar line is found in "The Beggar Wench," and the first line of this fragment, "Kind sir, if you please," may fit better with the latter)
DT 25, WILILYKE*
Roud #30
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Among the Blue Flowers and the Yellow
File: C025

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Willie's on the Dark Blue Sea

DESCRIPTION: "My Willie's on the dark blue sea, He's gone far o'er the main." She prays that the winds will soon blow him home. A storm blows up; she prays more earnestly. At that moment Willie shows up and takes her in his arms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (Journal from the Euphrasia)
KEYWORDS: sailor separation reunion
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 234-236, "Willie's on the Dark Blue Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 65, "Willie's On the Dark Blue Sea" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #2057
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1849 451530, "Willie's on the Dark Blue Sea," Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1849 (tune)
LOCSinging, as115070, "Willie's on the Dark Blue Sea," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb40576b, "Willie's on the Dark Blue Sea"
NOTES: Broadside LOCSheet sm1849 451530 claims it is "Written and Composed by H.G. Thompson" but that may just refer to the arrangement.
Broadside LOCSinging as115070: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: SWMS234

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Willie's Rare

See Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215] (File: C215)

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Willikins and His Dinah

See Vilikens and His Dinah [LawsM31A/B] (File: LM31)

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Willow Garden

See Rose Connoley [Laws F6] (File: LF06)

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Willow Green

See The Holly Twig [Laws Q6]; also The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: LQ06)

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Willow Tree (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Four farmers discover a man weeping by a grave. He tells that he had married Fanny just before he went to sea. She was told he had died, and married another. When he came home to see her, she died. He sits by her grave, and soon dies himself.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation marriage reunion death burial sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H789, pp. 419-420, "The Willow Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7965
File: HHH789

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Willow Tree (II), The

See Under the Willow She's Sleeping (The Willow Tree) (File: R711)

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Willow Tree (III), The

See Garners Gay (Rue; The Sprig of Thyme) and related songs (File: FSWB163)

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Willow Tree, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer is a woman. Her love won't speak to her. She wishes his bosom were glass so she could "view those secrets of your heart." Her love is a sailor: "when he gets so far away, He hardly thinks no more of me" She would be happy to have him back.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recording, May Bradley)
KEYWORDS: love separation nonballad sailor floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
May Bradley, "The Willow Tree" (on Voice12)
NOTES: The Willow reference is not exactly the expected one.
As I pass by a willow tree, willow tree,
That willow leaf blew down on me.
I picked it up, it would not break.
I've passed my love; he would not speak.
The break is usually for an oak tree ("I leaned my back against an oak ... First it bent and then it broke") rather than a willow leaf. Maybe the travelled lines have been so corrupted here that it is a new song.
Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 10" - 4.9.02 considers this a version of "Tavern in the Town." I don't find enough of "Tavern"'s identifying lines to make that connection. - BS
There is some floating material here, though, e.g. the "heart made of glass" shows up in some versions of "My Dearest Dear." - RBW
File: RcTWilTr

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Willy March

DESCRIPTION: Willy is stranded on the ice and can walk no further. He sends his companion, who is the only other survivor of their group, to the Cape St. Francis lighthouse for assistance but Willy dies before help can return.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (England, Vikings of the Ice)
KEYWORDS: recitation death disaster
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Doyle2, p. 80, "Willy March" (1 text)
Blondahl, p. 67, "Willie March" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, p. 107, "Willie March" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doy80 (Partial)
Roud #7320
NOTES: Cape St. Francis is north of St. John's at the mouth of Conception Bay. - SH
File: Doy80

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Willy O!

DESCRIPTION: Willy sails to the Bay of Biscay. Seven years later, he came to the girl's door. He says he is a ghost. The cock crows. He says his ghost will guard her. As he disappears he tells her "Weep no more for your Willy O"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan2); c.1867 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.15(136))
LONG DESCRIPTION: Seven years ago Willy went "on board the tender" and sailed to the Bay of Biscay. He does not answer Mary's letters. One night he comes to her bed-chamber door. She asks why he is so pale. He says the clay has changed his blushes. They discuss their old courtship. The cock crows. He says his ghost will guard her though his body lies in the West Indies. As he disappears he tells her "Weep no more for your Willy O"
KEYWORDS: ghost separation death nightvisit love bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan2 338, "Willie O" (1 text)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 113-114, "Willie O" (2 texts, 1 tune)
McBride 6, "The Bay of Biscay O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 3, pp. 5,100,155-156, "Willie's Ghost" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #22567
RECORDINGS:
Bill Cassidy, "Biscayo" (on IRTravellers01)
Robert Cinnamond, "Ghost of Willie-O" (on IRRCinnamond02)
Nora Cleary, "Willie-O" (on Voice03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.15(136), "Willy O!" ("Come all you young maids that's fair handsome"), W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867; also Harding B 19(86), Firth c.12(293), "Willy O!"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rise Up Quickly and Let Me In (The Ghostly Lover)" (theme)
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian 2806 c.15(136) is the basis for the description.
Jim Carroll's notes to Bill Cassidy's "Biscayo" on "From Puck to Appleby: Songs of Irish Travellers in England," Musical Traditions Records MTCD325-6 (2003) say that Hugh Shields believes the main source of the "Willy O" broadside is "Sweet William's Ghost" (Child 77). I wonder if Shields meant that; except for the night-visiting ghost and the bird singing in Child 77.F or the moorcock announcing day in Paddy Tunney's "Lady Margaret" ("The Voice of the People, Vol 3: O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green," Topic TSCD 653 (1998)), I don't find a connection.
The broadside version of "Willy O!" has distinguishing lines that include
As Mary lay sleeping, her true love came creeping....
They spent that night in deep discoursing,
Concerning their courtship sometime ago....
John Reilly's "Adieu Unto All True Lovers" ("Rise Up Quickly and Let Me In") and Cecilia Costello's "The Grey Cock": Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 52-53, "The Grey Cock, or The Lover's Ghost" adds this verse from the broadside.
O Willy dear where is the blushes,
That you had some time ago,
Mary dear the clay has changed them,
For I am the ghost of your Willy O.
Ewan MacColl's version of Cecilia Costello's "The Grey Cock" on Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Grey Cock" (on ENMacCollSeeger02) adds this verse from the broadside:
When she saw him disappearing,
Down her cheeks the tears did flow
Mary dear, sweetheart and darling
Weep no more for your Willy O. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: CrMa113

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Willy Reilly

See William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10] (File: LM10)

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Willy Reilly's Courtship

See William Riley's Courtship [Laws M9] (File: LM09)

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Willy Vare

DESCRIPTION: Ellen Vare's sailor husband dies at sea. She has one son who becomes a sailor. His ship is wrecked in a storm. Willy survives alone on an island for three years. He is rescued by a ship seeking gold. He returns to his poor mother with gold and jewels
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: parting return reunion rescue sea ship disaster storm wreck mother sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 65, "Willy Vare" (1 text)
File: GrMa065

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Willy Weaver

See Will the Weaver [Laws Q9] (File: LQ09)

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Willy, Poor Boy

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, utterly unconnected. "The train was almost started/The conductor come by with his lamp...." "I asked her if she loved me/She said she loved me some...." "Sometimes I live in the country, sometimes I live in town...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, Roy Harvey & Jess Johnston)
KEYWORDS: railroading love hardheartedness loneliness poverty courting floatingverses lover train death drowning suicide gambling hobo
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 112, "Willy, Poor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Roy Harvey & Jess Johnston (or Roy Harvey & the North Carolina Ramblers) "No Room for a Tramp" (Champion 16187, 1931; on TimesAint05)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Willy, Poor Boy" (on NLCR03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Goodnight, Irene" (words)
cf. "Sometimes I'm in This Country" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind" (floating verses)
cf. "Little Maud" (floating verses, some similarity in the tune)
NOTES: This song is almost impossible to describe; it is so disjointed as to be meaningless. - PJS
In fact it seems to consist entirely of lines borrowed from other songs. But it borrows from so MANY other songs that it has to file under its own name.... - RBW
Note that the "Sometimes I live in the country/Sometimes I live in town/Sometimes I take a fool notion/To jump in the river and drown" verse in this song predates the first recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight Irene," with which the verse is usually associated, by two years. - PJS
File: CSW112

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Willy, Willy

DESCRIPTION: "Where is my little one hiding tonight, Willy, Willy, Come from your hiding-place, little eyes bright, Willy, Willy, loving and true." "Ah, but my heart is forgetting its pain, Willy, Willy, Never on earth shall I see thee again, Willy, Willy...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death separation hiding
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 713, "Willy, Willy" (1 text)
Roud #7378
NOTES: Randolph's source claims it came from the Civil War era, and there is certainly a hint of a song for a lost soldier boy. But it seems to me that there's also a bit of lullaby in there. I wish we knew more verses. - RBW
File: R713

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Wilson Patent Stove, The

DESCRIPTION: "I remember very well, Jim, That Wilson Patent stove, That father bought and paid for, Jim, In the cloth that the girls wove. The people all wondered, Jim, When we got the thing to go, They swore it'd bust and kill us all Just fifty years ago."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Henry)
KEYWORDS: technology commerce
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 486, "The Wilson Patent Stove" (2 short texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #765
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Buy a Charter Oak" (theme)
NOTES: Randolph reports, "Many old settlers in Arkansas tell me that 'Wilson Patent' was the trade name of the first cookstoves sold here -- previously everybody cooked on the fireplace. Agents came through the county in wagons, trading stoves for handwoven counterpanes and carpets."
Roud lumps this with "Twenty Years Ago (Forty Years Ago)." It certainly has that look. But while it may be a loose fragment of that piece, given its current state, I think it better to separate the two. - RBW
File: R486

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Wilson, Gilmore, and Johnson

See The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)

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Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

DESCRIPTION: "Hear the footsteps of Jesus, he is now passing by, Bearing balm for the wounded, healing all who apply...." "Wilt thou be made whole (x2)? O come, weary suff'rer, O come, sin-sick soul... Step into the current and thou shalt be whole."
AUTHOR: William J. Kirkpatrick
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 copyright
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 82, "Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FSC082

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Wiltshire Wedding, The

See One Misty, Moisty Morning (File: OO2359)

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Wily Auld Carle, The

See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

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Wim-Wam-Waddles

See The Swapping Boy (File: E093)

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Winchester Gaol

DESCRIPTION: "There's a new county gaol in Winchester, Hants, Where the young prosecutor is going to provance." The prisoners are cold, their meals of bread and water are too small, and there is no liquor. "If you don't believe me... just you go a-poaching...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: prison punishment lawyer poaching food hardtimes
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 292-293, "Winchester Gaol" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1204
File: CoSB292

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Wind and Rain, The

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

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Wind and the Snow, The

DESCRIPTION: "The wind and snow oer the cold world blow From the wild raging east to the west But noo I'm sitting snug at my warm chimney lug And I carena a fig for the blast"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 544, "The Wind and the Snow" (1 fragment)
Roud #6020
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 entry. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3544

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Wind Blew the Bonnie Lass's Plaidie Awa', The

DESCRIPTION: Young woman goes to the butcher to buy beef, but he takes her in his arms, down they fall, and the wind blows her plaidie away. Three months later, her waist swells. The neighbors are upset; she blames the beef. (He marries her.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1893 (GreigDuncan7)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Young woman goes to the butcher to buy beef, but he takes her in his arms, down they fall, and the wind blows her plaidie away, not to be found. (He promises to pay for it.) Three months later, her waist swells; she says his beef is tough to chew. The neighbors are upset; she blames the beef. (He marries her, saying, "We shall hae the middle cut, it's tenderest of a'.")
KEYWORDS: sex clothes commerce lover food marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 75-76, "The Plaidie Away" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1413, "The Wind Blew the Bonnie Lassie's Plaidie Awa" (3 texts)
Ord, pp. 96-97, "The Wind Blew the Bonnie Lass's Plaidie Awa'" (1 text)
Roud #2574
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, Duncan Burke [instrumental], Jeannie Robertson [composite] "The Wind Blew the Bonny Lassie's Plaidie Awa'" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
Jimmy McBeath, "The Wind Blew the Lassie's Plaidie Awa'" (on Voice10)
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:029, "The Wind Blew the Plaidie Awa'," John Ross (Newcastle), 19C
NLScotland, RB.m.143(126), "The Bonnie Lassie's Plaidie," Poet's Box (Dundee), n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The White Cockade" (tune)
NOTES: It appears that several versions of this have been bowdlerized. The extent of the damage is not entirely clear. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcWBTBLP

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Wind Blew Up, the Wind Blew Down, The

See The Unquiet Grave [Child 78] (File: C078)

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Wind Blows High, The

See The Wind (Rain, Rain, the Wind Does Blow) (File: RcRRtWDB)

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Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away, The

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

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Wind Is in the West, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the wind is in the west, And the guinea's on her nest, And I can't get any rest For my baby! I'll tell pap when he comes home Somebody beat my little baby!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: lullaby abuse baby
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 157 (partly repeated on p. 160), (no title) (1 short text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bookerman" (theme)
File: ScNF157A

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Wind It Blew Up the Railroad Track, The

See The Little Red Train (File: EM224)

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Wind That Shakes the Barley

DESCRIPTION: "I sat within the valley green, I sat me with my true love." The singer tries to decide between love of a girl and love of country. He is saying goodbye when an English bullet kills the girl. Now, filled with sad memories, he goes to fight the English
AUTHOR: Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830-1883) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1861 (Joyce's _Ballads, Romances and Songs_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion soldier death separation
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
PGalvin, pp. 98-99, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 63, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WINDBARL WINDCORN
Roud #2994
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (on IRClancyMakem03)
Sarah Makem, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" (on Voice08)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rolling Neuse" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Wind That Shakes the Corn
NOTES: The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Wind That Shakes the Barley" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "1798 the First Year of Liberty," Hummingbird Records HBCD0014 (1998)) - BS
"The Wind That Shakes the Corn" appears to be a modern adaption of this rebel song, though I can't prove this. - RBW
File: PGa098

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Wind That Shakes the Corn

See Wind That Shakes the Barley (File: PGa098)

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Wind, The (Rain, Rain, the Wind Does Blow)

DESCRIPTION: "The wind, the wind, the wind blows high, The rain comes pouring from the sky." The girl says she will die if she doesn't get the boy she wants. The boys are fighting for her, but there is only one she will accept
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: courting playparty love
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1578, "The Wind Blows High" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Greig #152, p. 2, "The Wind, The Wind"; Greig #159, p. 2, "The Wind, The Wind" (2 texts)
cf. Kinloch-BBook XIX, pp. 67-68, (no title) (1 text, a mishmash with some lines reminiscent of this)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 56, "Skipping" ("The wind and the wind and the wind blows high") (1 text)
Hammond-Belfast, p. 18, "I'll Tell My Ma" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST RcRRtWDB (Full)
Roud #2649
RECORDINGS:
Mrs Grant Covey, "Rain Rain the Wind Does Blow" (on NovaScotia1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Tell My Ma" (lyrics)
NOTES: This item has a complicated story. The Clancy Brothers conflate this song with the "I"ll Tell My Ma" stanza. Roud lumps the two, and initial versions of the Index did as well. This is the more so as the versions are very unstable and localized -- e.g. Ben Schwartz describes the Nova Scotia version as follows: "'Rain rain the wind does blow ... Marie Richardson says she'll die If she don't get a fellow with a rolling eye.' She's from Halifax. 'All the boys are fighting for her ... Gordie Isnor will have her still.'"
Still, I've now seen enough versions which separate the two parts that I've split them. Best to check both, of course. - RBW
Hammond-Belfast and the Clancy Brothers version are almost the same song: one "I'll Tell My Ma" verse with the girl from Belfast City, and the rest of "The Wind(Rain, Rain, the Wind Does Blow)."
Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "I'll Tell My Ma" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959)) Sean O Boyle, notes to David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland": .".. the polka rhythm is the basis of the tune which indicates that the song originated in the mid-nineteenth century."
NovaScotia1 notes: "Singing game ... the players formed up in couples and went around in a ring. A boy chose a girl, then the girl chose a boy and so on until they were all taken" - BS
Similarly the Scottish version in Montgomerie appears to be a skipping game. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcRRtWDB

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Wind, The Wind, The

See The Wind (Rain, Rain, the Wind Does Blow) (File: RcRRtWDB)

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Winding Sheet Coffin, The

DESCRIPTION: "How swiftly the years of our pilgrimage fly, As weeks, months, and seasons roll silently by...." We are reminded that "The good rise to Heaven, but the bad sink to Hell." The singers wash their hands of sinners' blood and happily meet Christians
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Hell
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 658, "The Winding Sheet Coffin" (1 text)
Roud #7581
File: R658

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Windsor

DESCRIPTION: Shape note hymn: "My God, how many are my fears, How fast my foes increase! Their number how it multiplies! How fatal to my peace."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1808 (Missouri Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 153, "Windsor" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: San153

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Windstorm and Rain

DESCRIPTION: "In the last day of September, in the year nineteen nine, God almighty rose in the weather And that troubles everybody's mind." The song the storm, concluding, "God, he is in the windstorm and rain And everybody ought to mind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: storm religious
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Courlander-NFM, p. 76, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Reportedly based on a storm which struck Terrebone Parish in Louisiana in 1909. - RBW
File: CNFM076A

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Windy Bill (I)

DESCRIPTION: "When Joshua camped at pore Jericho's town, He blew his horn till the walls tumbled down... I blow my own horn... That's why they call me Windy Bill." Assorted tall tales, many Biblical, and often offered as explanations for the name "Windy Bill"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: talltale humorous religious Bible
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 430, "Windy Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7611
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Walkin' in the Parlor" (theme)
NOTES: Among the Biblical incidents related in this story are:
* Jericho destroyed by Joshua: Josh. 6:15-21 (the preliminaries occupy Josh. 2 and the rest of Josh. 6)
* "David went round with a stone and a sling, And he beaned old Goliath and later was king, He ran with the wild bunch while Saul was alive" (David and Goliath: 1 Samuel 17; David's anointing: 1 Samuel 16; David flees into the Wilderness: 1 Sam. 19:10 to the end of the book, with preliminaries beginning in 18:9)
* "Esau was a farmer of the wild wooly kind, That could not stand work and being confined, He did not think titles to his land was quite clear, So he traded his farm for a sandwich and beer" (Esau the"hairy man": Gen. 27:11f.; Esau sells his birthright for a meal of bread and lentil stew: Gen. 25:29f.)
* "Sampson, that big boy, wore his hair long, Till he met with a jane and she got him in wrong, He slung a wicked jawbone, I do the same, That's how I got Windy Bill for a name" (Samson, his hair, and Delilah: Judges 16:4f.; Samson and the jawbone: Judges 15:14f.) - RBW
File: R430

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Windy Bill (II)

DESCRIPTION: Windy Bill is convinced he can handle any steer. He and his mates place a wager on the matter, and they give him the worst bull available. Bill's rope technique is imperfect; he is thrown onto a rock pile. He pays up. Listeners are warned against bragging
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Thorp)
KEYWORDS: cowboy gambling contest
FOUND IN: US(MA,So,SW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Thorp/Fife II, pp. 38-43 (11-12), "Windy Bill" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Fife-Cowboy/West 75, "Windy Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 68-71, "Windy Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 5, "Windy Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 18, pp. 123-126, "The Old Black Steer" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WINDYBLL*
ADDITIONAL: Hal Cannon, editor, _Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering_, Giles M. Smith, 1985, pp. 26-27, "Windy Bill" (1 text)
Roud #4044
RECORDINGS:
J. D. Farley, "Bill Was a Texas Lad" (Victor V-40269, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4300, 1933; rec. 1929; on AuthCowboys, WhenIWas1)
Harry Jackson, "Windy Bill" (on HJackson1)
Powder River Jack Lee, "The Old Black Steer" (probably Bluebird B-5298, 1934; on MakeMe)
NOTES: This song is item dB41 in Laws's Appendix II. It has been claimed by Ray Reed, and credited to George B. German. I know of no supporting evidence for the former claim, and the latter appears to refer instead to "Windy Bill's Famous Ride." Thorp claimed in 1921 to have heard the song in 1899, but the claim is not found in his 1908 edition.
Logsdon notes that there are distinct roping styles in Texas and California, and the difference accounts for the Windy Bill's result in the song. Logsdon quotes, seemingly with some approval, Ohrlin's suggestion that the song originated in Arizona where the two roping styles overlapped. - RBW
File: TF02

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Windy Bill's Famous Ride

DESCRIPTION: A stranger comes up to Windy Bill. Bill boasts of his riding skill, and the stranger challenges him to come ride a difficult horse They take a long, wild ride in a car. When Bill asks where the horse is, the stranger tells him they just won a car contest
AUTHOR: George B. German
EARLIEST DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: cowboy technology trick travel recitation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 70, "Windy Bill's Famous Ride" (1 text)
File: Ohr070

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Windy Old Weather

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "In this windy old weather, Stormy Old weather, When the wind blows We'll all pull together." Various fish jump from the sea and exhort the crew, e.g. "Up jumps the herring, the king of the sea, He laps on the foredeck and says, Helm's-alee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950s (recording, Bob Roberts)
KEYWORDS: ship fishing nonballad storm shanty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South, West)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 204-205, "Stormy Ol' Weather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 232-233,"Stormy Weather Boys" (1 text plus 1 fragment, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 112, "Stormy Weather" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WINDYWEA* (with a first verse from "Yea Ho, Little Fish" or the like) WINDYWE2*
Roud #472
RECORDINGS:
Tom Brown, "Windy Old Weather" (on Voice12)
Sam Larner, "Haisboro Light Song" (on SLarner01); "Windy Old Weather" (on SLarner02)
Bob Roberts, "Windy Old Weather" (on LastDays, FieldTrip1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Stormy Weather Boys" (tune & metre)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Boston Come-All-Ye
NOTES: I do not know that the two Larner recordings are in fact different -- these two compilations drew from the same collection of field tapes -- but as the titles are given as different I thought it prudent to separate them. - PJS
File: CoSB204

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Wing Wang Waddle

See The Swapping Boy (File: E093)

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Winnin' o' the Goon, The

DESCRIPTION: A man bargains with a woman to spend the night with him to win a new gown. After winning the gown she weeps for losing her other sweethearts as the cost. He gives her a ring, they marry, and she blesses the day she made her bargain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: marriage sex bargaining clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 772, "The Winnin' o' the Goon" (3 texts)
Roud #6188
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The New Goon
File: GrD4722

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Winnipeg Whore, The

DESCRIPTION: On the narrator's first trip to Canada, he visits the eponymous lady, and while having sex with her, has his watch and wallet stolen. (When he objects, he is thrown out.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (collected from Norman MacIvor by Walton)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous sex theft whore
FOUND IN: Australia US(Ap,SW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray, pp. 202-204, "The Winnipeg Whore" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 278-279, "The Winnipeg Whore" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 114-115, "The Buffalo Whote" (1 text)
DT, WINNIPG*
Roud #8348
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gold Watch" [Laws K41] (plot) and references there
cf. "Reuben and Rachel" (tune) and references there
NOTES: The Walton text "The Buffalo Whore" is probably a deliberate rewrite, and could perhaps be considered a separate song -- but with only one text apparently known, it is probably not worth splitting off.
The change from a "Winnipeg Whore" to a "Buffalo Whore" is interesting, because Buffalo in sailing days had a rather wild reputation. It was the last possible port of call for Great Lakes boats too large to pass through the Welland Canal, so more sailors stopped there than any other port on the Lakes -- with predictable effect on the population of prostitutes and others who catered to sailors away from home.
I do note with interest that the American versions talk about a Winnipeg whore, while the Buffalo Whore version comes from Canada. It's almost as if the most interesting prostitutes lie over the border. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: EM202

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Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

DESCRIPTION: "Old Man Sargent, sitting at the desk, The damned old fool won't give us no rest. He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes...." The singer describes the bad conditions in the mills, and instructs listeners not to bury his body when he dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (collected by William Wolff at the School for Southern Women Workers, according to Doug deNatale and Glenn Hinson, in their article, "The Southern Textile Song Tradition Reconsidered," published in Archie Green, editor, _Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss_, Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993, p. 88)
KEYWORDS: weaving factory technology work hardtimes death burial
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenway-AFP, p. 144, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 371, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 126, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (1 text)
DT, WNNSBORO*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (on PeteSeeger13)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hard Times in the Mill (I)" (floating verses)
File: Grnw144

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Wint'ry Evening, A

See The Fatal Snowstorm [Laws P20] (File: LP20)

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Winter Desires

DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of the desires of loggers after the winter camp is broken up. They want good food (and lambast the camp cook), liquor, and new clothes. When they've run out of cash and the parties are over, they'll head back to the woods
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work logger food drink cook
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 34, "Winter Desires" (1 text)
Roud #8853
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (theme) and references there
NOTES: From Beck: "Though all of the songs about the logger's desires are not accepted by the mails, this one...is respectable." - PJS
File: Be034

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Winter It Is Past, The

See The Curragh of Kildare (File: DTcurrki)

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Winter of '73, The (McCullam Camp)

DESCRIPTION: In 1873, the singer takes a job at Snowball's mill in Miramichi. A few weeks later, the mill closes, and he sets out for Indiantown. He meets some portagers, who bring him to McCullam's camp, where he has many adventures too complex to describe here
AUTHOR: Larry Gorman
EARLIEST DATE: 1949
KEYWORDS: logger work unemployment
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1873 - Larry Gorman left home for Miramichi
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 214-215, "The Winter of '73 (McCullam Camp)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 36-39, "The Winter of Seventy-Three" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 49, "The Winter of '73 (McCullam Camp)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WINTER73
Roud #1942
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" and references there
File: Doe214

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Winter of Seventy-Three, The

See The Winter of '73 (McCullam Camp) (File: Doe214)

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Winter on Renous, A

DESCRIPTION: October 9, 1904, "rovin' Joe" leaves Indiantown for lumbering with the sons of Morgan Hayes. "They had no mercy on a man But to work him day and night." He tries other crews but returns to Hayes. "I spent a winter on Renous And now I love their ways"
AUTHOR: Joe Smith, "a Miramichi man who liked to call himself 'the rovin' Joe'" (Manny/Wilson)
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: lumbering ordeal humorous moniker horse
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manny/Wilson 48, "A Winter on Renous" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi048 (Partial)
Roud #9180
File: MaWi048

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Winter, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh the winter, oh the winter, oh the winter'll soon be over, children (x3), Yes my Lord." "'Tis Paul and Silas bound in chains." "You bend your knee on holy ground and ask the Lord to turn you around." "I has my trials here below."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 78, "The Winter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12039
File: AWG078

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Winter's Gone and Past

See The Curragh of Kildare (File: DTcurrki)

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Winter's Night

See My Dearest Dear AND 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: SKE40)

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Wintry Winds, The

See The Fatal Snowstorm [Laws P20] (File: LP20)

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Wisconsin Emigrant, The

See The Rolling Stone [Laws B25] (File: LB25)

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Wise County Jail, The

See The Cryderville Jail (File: LxU090)

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Wish I Had a Needle and Thread

See Going Across the Sea (File: RcItaly)

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Wish I'd Stayed in the Wagon Yard

DESCRIPTION: Singer comes to town with his cotton. Carousers take him drinking but leave him the bill. He sees them by the missionary hall singing "Jesus Paid it All." He warns against such men -- "don't monkey with them city ducks, you'll find them slick as lard"
AUTHOR: Probably Arthur Hugh Tanner
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Peg Moreland)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a country man, comes to town with a wagon-load of cotton, falls in with some carousers who take him drinking but leave him with the bill. As he walks down the street, he sees them by the missionary hall singing "Jesus Paid it All." He wishes he'd bought half a pint and stayed in the wagon yard, and warns others to do the same -- "don't monkey with them city ducks, you'll find them slick as lard"
KEYWORDS: warning betrayal drink humorous
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 21, #1 (1971), p, 19, "WIsh I Had Stayed in the Wagonyard" (1 text, 1 tune, the Lowe Stokes version, which the editors suspect is the original)
Roud #16279
RECORDINGS:
Lew Childre, "Wagon Yard" (Champion 16011, 1930) (Melotone 6-10-52, 1936)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Buy a Half Pint and Stay in the Wagon Yard" (OKeh 45528, 1931; rec. 1930)
Grandpa Jones, "Stay in the Wagon Yard" (King 912, 1950)
Peg Moreland, "Stay in the Wagon Yard" (Victor V-40008, 1929)
Lowe Stokes & his North Georgians, "Wish I Had Stayed in the Wagon Yard" (Columbia 15557-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "I Wish I'd Bought a Half a Pint and Stayed in the Wagon Yard" (on DownYonder)
NOTES: This seems to have been quite popular among early string bands, judging by recordings, but it doesn't seem to have made its way into folklore collections.
The tune for this song was also used by Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots for their version of "Three Jolly Huntsmen". - PJS
The Sing Out! notes compare the Stokes tune to "The Preacher and the Bear," - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcWISIWY

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With All My Heart

See The King Takes the Queen (File: FSWB232)

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With Her Dog and Gun

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

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With Me Pit Boots On

See The Courting Coat (File: RcWMPBO)

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With My Dog and Gun

See Where the Moorcocks Grow (The Mountain Stream; With My Dog and Gun) (File: K136)

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With My Swag All on My Shoulder

See True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man) (File: MA062)

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Witness

DESCRIPTION: Worksong: "Can I get a witness? Come and be a witness. Be a sanctified witness. Be a Holy Ghost witness. Jack o'Diamonds was a witness. Daniel was a witness" etc. The refrain "for my lord" can be added after each line; other Bible stories may be mentioned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Paul Robeson)
KEYWORDS: Bible nonballad religious worksong
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 176-184, "I Need Another Witness" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
RECORDINGS:
Paul Robeson, "Witness" (Victor 21109, 1927)
Texas state farm prisoners, "We Need Another Witness" (on NPCWork)
File: RcWtnss1

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Wizard Laird of Skene

See The Warlock Laird o' Skene (File: GrD2345)

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Wizard Oil (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I love to travel far and near throughout my native land, I love to sell as I go 'long, and take the cash in hand...." The singer describes how in each town he visits they come up to him and declare "I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: commerce lie money
FOUND IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, pp. 52-54, "Wizard Oil" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7592
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wizard Oil (II)"
NOTES: Sandburg's notes imply this piece may be by Harry E. Randall, but the matter is not clarified.
It probably was true that, in every town the salesman visited, he received testimonials to his product. Chances are, however, that he hired people to offer them.
Unlike Wizard Oil (II), this does not appear to be entirely a sales pitch. But it's close enough.... - RBW
File: San052

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Wizard Oil (II)

DESCRIPTION: "I have written a song, so give me your attention, And I'll tell you what Wizard's Oil will and won't cure." The product proves capable of dealing with almost anything painful, "And a dollar a bottle is all it does cost."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: medicine disease trick commerce
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 506, "Wizard Oil" (1 text)
Roud #7592
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wizard Oil (I)"
NOTES: In the Hamlin's Wizard Oil Songbook (1890s?), this is credited to "J. D Laurens, Comic Vocalist, expressly for Hamlin's Wizard Oil Company No. 7."
Based on the list of illnesses "cured," one suspects that Wizard's Oil was probably almost-pure alcohol, and that it worked simply by dulling the pain. - RBW
File: R506

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Wo, Stormalong

See Stormalong (File: Doe082)

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Woe Be Unto You

DESCRIPTION: "Woe be unto you (x2), You may throw yo' rocks an' hide yo' hands.... " "Well, it's woe be unto you (x2), You may dip yo' snuff an' hide yo' box..." "...You may dig yo' grave an' hide yo' spade, but it's woe be unto you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: nonballad sin
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 604-605, "Woe Be Unto You."
Roud #15558
NOTES: The Lomaxes call this a spiritual. I really don't see why. It looks more like a curse against hypocrites. - RBW
File: LxA604

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Woe to You, Women

DESCRIPTION: The noble singer complains that a servant he made his wife "hae lien wi your footman an' [so] you'll never lie with me." "You disgraced the name of my high majesty."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: infidelity marriage husband lover wife royalty servant
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1206, "Woe to You, Women" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5522
NOTES: Roud lumps this with ("Good morrow, fair mistress") (David Herd, editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. (Edinburgh, 1870 (reprint of 1776)), Vol II, pp. 5-6). That song shares parts of lines and theme with GreigDuncan6, but does not mention the footman and adds different details. - BS
I doubt that this is intended to be history, but if it is, we note that it is a poor fit for most kings of Scotland. If we look at the Stewart/Stuart dynasty, the kings and their wives are as follows:
Robert II (reigned 1371-1390) had two wives, Elizabeth Mure and Euphemia Ross; he had ten children by the former and four by the latter, and married both before becoming king. Both were noble although not royal (Ashley, p. 552).
Robert III (reigned 1390-1406) married Anabella Drummond. Although her father was a mere knight, she was the niece of the former queen Margaret Drummond (Oram, p. 198) -- but at the time of their marriage in 1366, there was no reason to believe that Robert III would ever be king. And in any case they had seven children (Ashley, p. 553.)
James I (reigned 1406-1427) married Joan Beaufort, who was a descendent (in an illegitimate-but-legitimized line) of Edward III or England and a cousin of Henry V, the king when they married. They had eight children (Ashley, p. 555).
James II (regined 1437-1460) married Mary the daughter of the Duke of Gueldres -- the first Stuart to marry a princess from outside the British Isles. They had seven children.
James III (reigned 1460-1488) married Margaret, the daughter of the King of Denmark; they had three children (Ashley, p. 561).
James IV (reigned 1488-1513) married Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII of England (the lineage from which the Stuarts eventually claimed the English throne), by whom he had six children (Ashley, pp. 564-565). There were apparently rumors that he had secretly married one of his mistresses, Margaret Drummond (Ashley, p. 565), but such a marriage, if it existed, was bigamous; we find a churchman lamenting James's refusal to give up mistresses such as Margaret (Oram, p. 235).
James V (reigned 1513-1542) married Madeleine daughter of Francois I of France and them Mary daughter of the duke of Guise-Lorraine (Ashley, p. 468). His only surviving daughter was Mary Queen of Scots, but his wives were both noble.
Mary (reigned 1542-1567, when she was deposed) did marry as her second husband Henry, Lord Darnley, who probably slept around -- but she was female and obviously didn't have a wife.
James VI, the last King of Scotland who was not also King of England (reigned 1567-1625 in Scotland, 1603-1625 in England) may have been homosexual; in any case, he does not seem to have strayed from his marriage to Anne, daughter of the King of Denmark (Ashely, p. 575).
Thus none of the Stewards fits the conditions of this song; none married servants, and most of the marriages endured.
There is an interesting analogy to the time of King David II (reigned 1329-1371), the son of Robert I Bruce. David first married Joanna of England; she died in 1262, having borne him no children. David then (in 1364) married Margaret Drummond; he was her second husband, and he divorced her in 1370. She wasn't exactly a servant, but she was well below his station.
There were, to be sure, some earlier kings with amazingly complicated love lives, but what are the odds that a song about someone who reigned before 1300 would have survived?
The closest genuine analogy I can think of to this is to Henry VIII and Katherine Howard, his fifth wife. She was fairly high-born, too, since her uncle was Duke of Norfolk (Scarisbrick, p. 378). But she *was* a servant of Anne of Cleves (Scarisbrick, p. 429), who was supposed to be Henry's fourth wife until Henry blew her off. Katherine proved a "high-spirited minx" (Scarisbrick, p. 375), and "she had been unchaste before her marriage; she took to adultery soon after it' (Scarisbrick, p. 431). It's hard to blame her -- she was a teenager, and apparently quite pretty; he was fat and worn-out and imperious (Scarisbrick, p. 431, by this time calls Henry "physically probably repugnant"). The details of the breakdown of the marriage seem rather obscure, but it ended with Henry executing her (Scarisbrick, p. 432).
Interestingly, Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, had also been a lady-in-waiting to wife #1, and ended up being executed on a charge of adultery (but one for which genuine proof is completely lacking) and wife #3, Jane Seymour, had been a lady-in-waiting to Anne. Thus Henry VIII was a far better candidate for the singer in this song than is any Scottish king. But why, then, is the song found primarily if not exclusively in Scotland? - RBW
Bibliography

• Ashley: Mike Ashley, British Kings and Queens, Barnes & Noble, 2000 (originally published as The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens, 1998)
• Oram: Richard Oram, editor, The Kings & Queens of Scotland, 2001 (I use the 2006 Tempus paperback edition)
• Scarisbrick: J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, University of California Press, 1968

Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61206

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Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom

DESCRIPTION: "Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom (x3), Hallelu (x4), Hallelujah." "Ain't no harm to keep your mind stayed on freedom." "Walkin' and talkin' with my mind stayed on freedom." The singer does all things with a mind to freedom
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: freedom nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-FSWB, p. 300, "Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Jesus" (tune, lyrics, structure)
NOTES: This song is clearly derived from the spiritual "Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Jesus." - PJS
File: FSWB300A

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Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Jesus

DESCRIPTION: "I woke up this morning with my mind standing on Jesus (x3)/Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah" "I'm walkin' and talkin' with my mind..." "I woke up singing..." "I'm sayin' my prayers..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Roosevelt Graves & brother)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar)
RECORDINGS:
Roosevelt Graves & brother [Aaron or Uaroy Graves], "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)" (Perfect 6-11-74, 1936; on Babylon)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom" (tune, lyrics, structure)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed on Jesus
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Set on Jesus
NOTES: The freedom song "Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom" is obviously derived from this song. - PJS
File: RcWUTMWM

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Woman Blue

See I Know You Rider (File: LxA196)

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Woman Charming Woman, O!

DESCRIPTION: The singer cites the good ("what's the chief of man's delight") and bad ("who can clean his pockets out"), mostly good, about marriage. "Whose a match for any man? Charming little woman O: They'll wear the breeches if they can"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1865 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.26(104))
KEYWORDS: marriage nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 1069, "Woman, Charming Woman" (1 fragment)
Roud #6760
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.26(104)[a few illegible words], "Woman Charming Woman, O!" ("What's the chief of man's delight"), J.O. Bebbington (Manchester), 1858-1864; also Harding B 11(4015), "Woman Charming Woman, O!"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Charming Woman
NOTES: GreigDuncan5 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Firth c.26(104) is the basis for the description. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1069

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Woman from Dover

See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

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Woman from Yorkshire

See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

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Woman of Three Cows, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer is poor. He tells the "Woman of Three Cows" that she is too proud and scornful of those less wealthy than herself. He recounts the Irish heroes who have met misfortune or death. She cannot measure up to them.
AUTHOR: English version by James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Duffy)
KEYWORDS: pride vanity nonballad animal poverty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
OLochlainn-More 64, "The Woman of Three Cows" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 120, "The Woman of Three Cows" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 56-59, "The Woman of Three Cows"
Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol II, pp. 277-278, "The Woman of Three Cows"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 163-164, "The Woman of Three Cows" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 460-462, 504, "The Woman of Three Cows"
Donagh MacDonagh and Lennox Robinson, _The Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1958, 1979), pp. 51-53, "The Woman of Three Cows" (1 text)
Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 273-275, "The Woman of Three Cows" (1 text)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "In this translation [James Clarence] Mangan [1803-1849] has bettered the original anonymous Gaelic verses 'Go reidh, a bhean na dtri mbo.'"
Duffy and Sparling quote Mangan: "This ballad, which is of a homely cast, was intended as a rebuke to the saucy pride of a woman in humble life, who assumed airs of consequence from being the possessor of three cows. Its author's name is unknown, but its age can be determined, from the language, as belonging in the early part of the seventeenth century. That it was formerly very popular in Munster, may be concluded from the fact that the phrase, Easy, oh, woman of the three cows! has become a saying in that province, on any occasion upon which it is desirable to lower the pretensions of a boastful or consequential person." - BS
The Gaelic original is said to be in Middle Irish, so it is fairly old. It will be seen that the translation is quite popular -- one of the most popular translated poems I've seen. - RBW
File: OLcM064

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Woman the Joy and the Pride of the Land

DESCRIPTION: "Come married and single, together pray mingle, And listen awhile to these lines I relate; You that single have tarried, make haste and get married... For woman's the joy and the pride of the land." The theme is repeated in every verse
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5); 19C (broadside, Murray Mu23-y1:011)
KEYWORDS:
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan5 1067, "Woman's the Joy and Pride of the Land" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 185, "Women's the Joy and the Pride of the Land" (1 text)
Roud #4393
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:011, "Woman the Joy and Pride of the Land," J.Bristow (Glasgow), 19C; also Mu23-y1:045, "Woman the Pride of the Land," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There's Nothing Can Equal A Good Woman Still" (theme, some words)
File: GrMa185

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Woman the Pride of the Land

See Woman The Joy and the Pride of the Land (File: GrMa185)

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Woman Trouble

DESCRIPTION: "She left me this morning, never said a word." The singer tells of hard work, comes close to despair, describes his venereal disease, is told he can't be cured, talks of those who tried to escape,
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recorded from J. B. Smith by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes work disease floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 160-162, "Woman Trouble" (1 text)
NOTES: Like so may of J. B. Smith's songs, this one is extremely problematic. Some of it appears to float, but some appears to be his own composition. But a stanza refers to a venereal disease, which Jackson believes to be gonorrhea (and the symptoms fit) -- yet the song says there is no cure. In 1965? Is this an old fragment? But what about the context? Nor is the tune any help, since it was not transcribed. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: JDM160

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Woman, Woman, I See Yo' Man

See I Was Born on the River (File: MWHee033)

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Woman's Rights

DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of how her husband is agitated about the issue of women's rights, spending hours discussing it. He is afraid that, if women vote, men will never hold office again. He claims voting is not part of her nature. She intends to enjoy the right
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: husband wife political humorous
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 503, "Woman's Rights" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 376-378, "Woman's Rights" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 503A)
DT, WOMENRTS
Roud #7589
File: R503

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Woman's the Joy and Pride of the Land

See Woman the Joy and the Pride of the Land (File: GrMa185)

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Women Are Worse Than the Men, The

See The Farmer's Curst Wife [Child 278] (File: C278)

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Women's Nae That Easy to Please

DESCRIPTION: The singer "went to the chamber door, where my love lay." She leaves him out in the cold and "bade me go home, keep my mind quite at ease." You can see that women are not so easily pleased.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection nightvisit nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1847, "Women's Nae That Easy to Please" (1 text)
Roud #13596
File: GrD81847

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Won't You Go My Way

DESCRIPTION: Hauling shanty. Refrain: "Won't you/ye/yiz go my way?" Verses describe either consorting with a prostitute and now being glad to be married, or describe courting in general.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor whore courting
FOUND IN: West Indies Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hugill, p. 505, "Won't Ye Go My Way" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 373]
Sharp-EFC, LVI, p. 61 "Won't You Go My Way" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8289
File: Hugi505

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Won't You Leave Us a Lock of Your Hair

DESCRIPTION: Dermot speaks to Nora from the window at night. She will not marry him because her parents oppose him. She would be ruined if he's found at her window. A hand clutches his head and a voice says, as he runs, "Won't you leave us a lock of your hair?"
AUTHOR: J.J. Waller (? John Francis Waller 1809-?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (broadside, Murray Mu23-y1:139)
KEYWORDS: courting humorous nightvisit father
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, pp. 103-104, "Won't You Leave Us a Lock of Your Hair" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(19), "Won't You Leave Us a Lock of Your Hair", unknown, n.d.
Murray, Mu23-y1:139, "Won't You Leave Us a Lock of Your Hair", Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1865
NOTES: According to broadside Murray Mu23-y1:139, the tune of this is "The Low Back'd Car." It's not clear which song of that name is meant. - BS
File: OCon103A

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Wonder Where Is My Brother Gone?

DESCRIPTION: "Wonder where is my brother gone? Wonder where is my brother John? He is gone to the wilderness, Ain't comin' no more. Wonder where will I lie down? (x2) In some lonesome place, Lord, down on the ground."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Courlander-NFM, p. 61, (no title) (partial text); p. 228, "Wonder Where Is My Brother Gone?" (1 tune, partial text)
Fuson, p. 150, "I Wonder Where My Father Be" (1 text)
Roud #10969
RECORDINGS:
Annie Grace Horn Dodson, "Wonder Where My Brother Gone" (on NFMAla2)
NOTES: Courlander's text (which is the basis for the description above) clearly refers to John the Baptist: "John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance..." (Mark 1:4; compare Matt. 3:1, Luke 3:2).
Fuson's text is much more secular: "I wonder where my father be, That he hain't been here with me. He's buried in some distant land And he won't be here with me. To sleep, to sleep, that lonesome sweet sleep, He is laid in his grave to sleep," and similarly with mother, brother, sisters, etc.
It may be that these are two separate songs, but neither seems sufficiently attested to make it worth splitting them. - RBW
File: CNFM061B

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Wonderful Crocodile, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer, shipwrecked at (La Perouse), encounters the crocodile. He describes its immensity: Five hundred miles long, etc. Blown into its mouth, he lives well on the other things lost inside. At last the beast dies; the singer spends six months escaping
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4288))
KEYWORDS: animal talltale monster sailor
FOUND IN: Australia Ireland US(MW,NE) Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 134-135, "The Wonderful Crocodile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 157-159, "The Crocodile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 196, "The Wonderful Crocodile" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan8 1700, "The Crocodile" (1 text)
Greig #14, p. 1, "The Crocodile" (1 text)
SHenry H231a, p. 28, "The Crocodile" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Kennedy 292, "The Crocodile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 168-170, "The Rummy Crocodile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 230-232, "Crocodile Song" (1 text, probably this, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 60, "Crocodile Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 498-500, "The Wonderful Crocodile" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WONDCROC
Roud #886
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4288), "The Wonderful Crocodile," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also 2806 c.16*(150), Harding B 11(1317), Harding B 11(1141), Harding B 11(4289), Harding B 11(4290), Firth c.12(412), "[The] Wonderful Crocodile
NLScotland, RB.m.143(134), "The Crocodile," Poet's Box (unknown), c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Derby Ram" (theme)
cf. "The Grey Goose" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
End for End Jack (per broadside NLScotland RB.m.143(134))
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Rummy Crocodile
NOTES: The similarity to "The Derby Ram" should be obvious. It is also noteworthy that most versions show very little variation; one must suspect a broadside ancestor somewhere. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: MA134

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Wonderful Grey Horse, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer's horse "was rode in the Garden by Adam the day that he fell"; that turned him grey. The horse has been with Noah, ..., Brien the brave, Sarsfield at Limerick, and Daniel O'Connell. He is ready to run for a rider that will shake off Erin's yoke.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: first half 19C (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic talltale horse
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1014 - Battle of Clontarf and death of Brian Boru
July 12, 1691 - Battle of Aughrim
1775-1847 - Life of Daniel O'Connell
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 44A, "The Grey Horse" (1 text)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 158, "The White Steed" (1 text)
Roud #13451
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.169(243), "The Wonderful Grey Horse," unknown, c.1840
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" (theme)
cf. "Bean an Fhir Rua" (tune, according to Tunney-StoneFiddle)
NOTES: "Brien the Brave" is of course Brian Boru, winner of the Battle of Clontarf in 1814, for whom see "Remember the Glories of Brian the Brave."
Sarsfield is Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan (died 1693), the last of the great commanders who fought for James II; for his history, see "After Aughrim's Great Disaster."
Daniel O'Connell was the Irish hero who fought for emancipation, Repeal (of the Union between Britain and Ireland), and the place of the Irish in parliament; he is mentioned in dozens of songs; for more on him, see the cross-references under "Daniel O'Connell (I)." - RBW
File: Zimm044A

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Wonderful Watford

DESCRIPTION: "Wonderful, wonderful Watford, Where the Little Missouri flows, We're proud of all our Norwegians And all that makes it so. You can ride o'er the plains and the coulees... And still be in wonderful Watford, The most wonderful place that I know."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 11, "Wonderful Watford" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Beautiful Texas" (tune)
NOTES: I strongly suspect that the author of this piece never set foot outside North Dakota!
The Little Missouri is a tributary of the Missouri River, which is by no means little in North Dakota. - RBW
File: Ohr011

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Wondrous Love

DESCRIPTION: "What wondrous love is this... that caused the lord of bliss To bear the dreadful curse for my soul." The singer has been saved from the burden of sin by Christ's sacrifice; therefore he/she praises God and the Lamb
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1868
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad reprieve
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 98, "Wondrous Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 153-154, "[Wondrous Love]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 160-161, "Wondrous Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 261, "Wondrous Love" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 350, "Wondrous Love" (1 text)
DT, WONDLOVE
Roud #5089
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "Wondrous Love" (on Barker01)
Fisk Jubilee Singers, "When I Was Singin' Down" (on Fisk01)
Ganus Brothers Quartet, "Wondrous Love" (Columbia 15331-D, 1928)
Georgia Sacred Harp Quartette, "Wondrous Love" (OKeh 40195, 1924)
Old Harp Singers of Eastern Tennessee, "Wondrous Love" (on OldHarp01)
Pete Seeger, "Wondrous Love" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07b)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Through All the World Below" (tune & meter)
cf. "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" (tune)
NOTES: This is that oddest of oddities: A song that files under *its own name* in the Sacred Harp! - RBW
File: LxU098

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Woo'd and Married and A' (I)

DESCRIPTION: The bride cries because she is to be married and has "neither blankets nor sheets, Nor scarce a coverlet." Her family members tell her not to complain because she has plenty else. Willy says "though we be scant o' claes We'll creep the closer thegither"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: dowry wedding nonballad brother father mother sister
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol II, pp. 358-360, "Woo'd and Married and A'"
David Herd, editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. (Edinburgh, 1870 (reprint of 1776)), Vol II, pp. 115-117, "Woo'd and Married and A'"
Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 65-66, "The Bride Cam’ Out o’ the Byre"
Roud #7159
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Woo'd and Married and A' (II)" (theme: whining bride, tune)
NOTES: Whitelaw: "The author of this song to the tune of 'Woo'd and Married and A',' is unknown. It appears in Herd's collection of 1776, but is of much older date." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdWoMar1

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Wood Hauler, The

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

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Wood Scow Julie Plante, The

See The Wreck of the Julie Plante (File: FJ174)

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Woodchopper's Song

DESCRIPTION: "Ole Mister Oak, yo' day done come, Zim-zam-zip-zoo, Gwine chop you down an cahy you home! Bim-bam-biff-boom!" "Buhds in de branches fin' anodder nes'!... Ole Mister Oak Tree, He gwine to his res'!" Woodsman and axe go about their job
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: worksong nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 214-215, "Woodchopper's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: ScNF214B

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Woodman, Spare That Tree

DESCRIPTION: "Woodman, spare that tree, Touch not a single bough, In youth it sheltered me, And I'll protect it now." The singer relates how his grandfather planted it and how his family delighted in it. "While I've a hand to save, Thy axe shall harm it not."
AUTHOR: Words: George Perkins Morris / Music: Henry Russell
EARLIEST DATE: 1837
KEYWORDS: family home request reprieve
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 246-252, "Woodman, Spare That Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 23-26, "Woodman, Spare That Tree" (1 text, 1 tune, plus the parody "Barber, Spare Those Hairs")
Silber-FSWB, p. 253, "Woodman, Spare That Tree" (1 text)
Roud #13833
RECORDINGS:
Jack Mahoney, "Woodman Spare That Tree" (Columbia 15712-D, 1932; rec. 1931)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(503), "Woodman Spare That Tree," G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Harding B 11(1186), Firth b.25(540), Harding B 11(4316), Harding B 11(4315), Harding B 11(4314), Harding B 45(23) View 2 of 3, Harding B 15(392a), Firth b.25(68), Harding B 11(64), Firth b.26(361), Firth b.28(36) View 2 of 2, Johnson Ballads 342, Harding B 11(4313), Harding B 15(391b), "Woodman Spare That Tree"; Firth b.25(600/601) View 1 of 2, "Woodman Spare The Tree"
LOCSheet, sm1840 371290, "Woodman! Spare That Tree!," Firth and Hall (New York), 1840 (tune)
LOCSinging, as115220, "Woodman, Spare That Tree," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as204080, "Woodman, Spare That Tree"
NOTES: The original sheet music of this piece contains a letter from Morris to Russell describing how the words came to be written. Apparently the piece is biographical; Morris was with a friend when said friend saw a tree on his childhood home being threatened. A payment of $10 ensured the tree's continued existence.
In later years Russell claimed that he was the friend and that the tree grew on Morris's home. However, Russell was rather given to exaggeration; if we are to believe anyone, we should probably believe Morris. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as115220: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site.
The dating for broadside Bodleian Firth b.26(503), before 1835, is at best questionable. Here is a quote from the Lesley Nelson-Burns site Folk Music of England Scotland Ireland, Wales & America collection: "The words to this song are a poem written by George Pope Morris in 1830. The music was written by Henry Russell. The song was published in 1837.... " - BS
File: RJ19246

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Woodpecker's Hole, The

DESCRIPTION: The narrator sticks his finger in the woodpecker's hole in this quatrain ballad that hints of a story otherwise left untold.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919
KEYWORDS: bawdy scatological bird humorous
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MW,NE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 226-228, "The Woodpecker's Hole" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #10134
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dixie" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Brown Jug" (tune)
File: EM226

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Woods o' Tillery, The

DESCRIPTION: A mason lad leaves the singer before daylight but says he'll come again and she will rise and let him in.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: dialog nightvisit
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 774, "The Woods o' Tillery" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #6190
NOTES: GreigDuncan4: "Tillery is northeast of Newmachar." "Tillery" is not in GreigDuncan's text and no note explains the title. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4774

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Woods of Drumbo, The

See Drumboe Castle (File: PGa100)

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Woods of Michigan, The

See Harry Dunn (The Hanging Limb) [Laws C14] (File: LC14)

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Woods of Mountsandel, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, there's no play so sweet, you may search where you can, As the dear little town on the banks of the Bann." The singer recalls the happy times he courted Kathleen around Mountsandel. Summer is gone, and they are old, but they still love each other
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting age
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H6=H567, p. 275, ""The Woods of Mountsandel (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7970
File: HHH006

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Woods of Rickarton, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye jolly ploughmen lads... The praises of your bonnie glen I would be fain to sing." The singer praises the woods of Rickarton, the streams, the men -- and especially the girls (while having harsh words for a wealthy but vicious woman)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1889 (GreigDuncan3 417C)
KEYWORDS: farming work courting money rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 417, "The Woods of Rickarton" (2 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, p. 251, "The Woods of Rickarton" (1 text)
Roud #5574
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Riccarton
Whistlin' at the Ploo
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; Rickarton (417) is at coordinate (h9,v8) on that map [near Stonehaven, roughly 13 miles WSW of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord252

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Woodsmen's Alphabet, The

See The Logger's Alphabet (File: Doe207)

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Woodville Mound

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

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