Wooed and Married an' A' (II)

DESCRIPTION: A pampered "toast o' the parish" marries. She has no skill. When she asks her husband for ribbons he sits her at the wheel to spin. She runs to her mother who sides with the husband and sends her back, admonished to work.
AUTHOR: Mrs Scott of Dumbartonshire (source: Chambers, probably copied from Cromek)
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Cromek's _Select Scottish Songs_, according to Chambers)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The spoiled "toast o' the parish Is wooed and married and a'." She has no skill but to dress herself in finery. When she asks for fine ribbons her husband sets her by the spinning wheel. She runs to mother. Her mother says her husband's idea is good "for now ye should work like a tiger ... and debt keep awa" and sends her "swift away hame" with advice not to spend time at gossip ("or else ye deserve to be knockit"). She decides to go home "and e'en tak a chance o' the landin', However that matters might fa'"
KEYWORDS: marriage husband mother wife clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1370, "Wooed and Married an' A'" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol II, pp. 360-361, "Wooed, and Married, and A'"
Roud #7159
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 22(350)[many lines illegible], "Wooed and Married and A' ("Woo'd and marry'd and a'"), J. Evans (London), 1780-1812
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Woo'd and Married and A' (I)" (theme: whining bride, tune)
NOTES: The two "Woo'd and Married and A'" are lumped by Roud and have the theme of the spoiled and complaining bride, and tune, in common. The details are entirely different as you can tell by their description. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71370

Wooing (I), The

See The Courting Case (File: R361)

Wooing (II), The

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

Woolloomooloo

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes his shady life since his birth in Woolloomooloo. His father is a drunkard, and his parents fight so often that "Half the time they used to spend in jail." The singer eventually turns to robbery, and ends up in prison himself.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: family children crime prison Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 194-195, "Woolloomooloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WOOLOO
NOTES: Woolloomooloo is an inner suburb of Sydney; at one time it had a rather bad reputation. - RBW
File: FaE194

Work of the Weavers, The

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "If it wasna for the weavers, what wad ye do?... Ye wadna hae a coat o the black or the blue Gin it wasna for the work o the weavers." The verses describe those who insult weavers, and how -- despite this -- they depend on the weavers
AUTHOR: David Shaw
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: weaving work
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 200-202, "The Wark o' the Weavers" (1 text)
Ord, p. 391, "The Wark o' the Weavers" (1 text)
MacColl-Shuttle, pp. 10-11, "The Wark o' the Weavers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 127, "The Work of the Weavers" (1 text)
DT, WORKWEAV
Roud #374
RECORDINGS:
Liam Clancy, "The Weavers" (on IRLClancy01)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Work of the Weavers" (on IRClancyMakem02)
NOTES: The words of this song were published by David Shaw (died 1856). I don't know where the tune came from. - RBW
File: FSWB127

Work-Song

See A Little Streak o' Lean (File: ScNF207B)

Workers of the World

DESCRIPTION: Anthem of the I.W.W.: "Fellow workers, pay attention To what I'm going to mention, For it is the fixed intention Of the workers of the world. And I hope you will be ready, True-hearted, brave, and steady, To gather 'round the standard..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad
FOUND IN: US Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 104, "Workers of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA104

Workhouse Boy, The

See The Mistletoe Bough (File: R802)

Workin' Steer, The

See Courtin' in the Stable (The Workin' Steer) (File: Ord227)

World of Misery

See Shenandoah (File: Doe077)

Worms Crawl In, The

DESCRIPTION: "Did you ever think when the hearse goes by That you might be the next to die?.... The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, The worms play pinochle on your snout...." A detailed description of how corruption attacks a body in a grave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923
KEYWORDS: death burial humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
BrownIII 142, "Old Woman All Skin and Bones" (4 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more, all basically "Skin and Bones (The Skin and Bones Lady)," but the "B" text seems to have picked up a "Worms Crawl In" chorus)
Sandburg, p. 444, "The Hearse Song" (2 texts, 1 tune, containing these lyrics but with particularizations regarding a military burial; the result would probably qualify as a separate song if better known)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 556-557, "The Hearse Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 242, "The Hearse Song" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 124, "Did You Ever Think" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 657-658+, "The Worms Crawl In (The Hearse Song)"
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #92, pp. 86-88, "(There was a lady all skin and bone)" (contains this verse)
DT, WORMSCRA
Roud #15546
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogene" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
The Scabs Crawl In (Greenway-AFP, p. 13; on PeteSeeger30)
Rootie-Toot-Toot (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 76)
NOTES: The Pankakes report that this has been attributed to the Crimean War. They do not cite a source for this information.
The key line, "The worms crawl out, the worms crawl in" appears as part of "Skin and Bones (The Skin and Bones Lady)" in the revised 1810 edition of Gammer Gurton's Garland, but it may have been an editorial insertion.
A similar lyric is found in the ballad of "Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogene," but I don't know if that's a case of cross-dependence (let alone which way the dependence goes) or an independent evolution.
Charles Clay Doyle published a study of this, "'As the Hearse Goes By': The Modern Child's Memento Mori,' in Francis Edward Abernathy, ed., What's Going On? (In Modern Texas Folklore) (1976; the Doyle essay begins on p. 175). This documents the widespread nature of the song (without giving really detailed statistics about its distribution). It also compares it with a Middle English tradition of songs about bodily decay -- a comparison I find rather a stretch. - RBW
File: San444

Worried Man Blues

DESCRIPTION: "It takes a worried man to sing a worried song (x2), I'm worried now, but I won't be worried long." The singer describes how he was imprisoned and shackled. He is sentenced to (21) years. His girl takes a train and leaves him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: work prison train abandonment punishment
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 890, "Worried Man Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 240, (no title) (1 fragment, mentioning the train that is sixteen coaches long, which might be part of this or the song it inspired)
Silber-FSWB, p. 74, "Worried Man Blues" (1 text)
DT, WORRDMAN
Roud #4753
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Ramblers String Band, "Worried Man Blues" (Romeo 5118/Perfect 12787, 1932)
Carter Family, "Worried Man Blues" (Victor V-40317, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4742, 1935) (Perfect 07-05-55, 1937)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Won't Be Worried Long" (Bluebird B-6738, 1937)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Worried Man Blues" (on NLCR16)
Pete Seeger, "Worried Man Blues" (on PeteSeeger26)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Two Dollar Bill (Long Journey Home)" (tune)
cf. "Dink's Blues" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: While this song was copyrighted by A. P. Carter, he probably didn't write it; he may have picked it up from an African-American prison song. - PJS
Or, perhaps, a blues; Charley Patton's "Down the Dirt Road Blues" isn't really the same song, but it has a lot of similar phrases. Like the Carter text, Patton recorded his piece (not in the Index, since I don't think it's traditional in his form) in 1929. - RBW
File: BAF890

Worthington

DESCRIPTION: Shape note hymn: "Thou we adore, eternal name, And humbly own to thee. How feeble is our mortal frame, What dying worms are we."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1808 (Missouri Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 154, "Worthington" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: San154A

Worthy Boys of Clone, The

DESCRIPTION: Four "worthy boys of Clone" put to sea at night on December 3. They drown: "A monstrous wave capsized the boat as o'er the Back she sailed." The boys' names are given.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 92-93, "The Worthy Boys of Clone" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Ranson: "The disaster took place about 1850....[The singer] believed the author of the song was a man named Rogers." - BS
File: Ran092

Wouldn't Drive So Hard

DESCRIPTION: A song of cotton workers. "Wouldn't drive so hard but I need de arns (x2). Snatchin' an' a-crammin' it in my sack, Gotter have some cotton if it breaks my back, Wouldn't drive so hard but I need de arns (x2)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: worksong harvest
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 210, (no title) (1 short text)
File: ScaNF210

Wounded Hussar, The

DESCRIPTION: When the battle ends Adelaide, "alone on the banks of the dark rolling Danube," finds Henry, her "wounded Hussar." He thanks her for coming "To cheer the lone heart of thy wounded Hussar." She says "thou shalt live" but he dies in her arms.
AUTHOR: Thomas Campbell
EARLIEST DATE: 1799 (written 1797, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: war death lover soldier
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 159, "The Wounded Hussar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 175, "The Wounded Hussar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2699
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 402, "The Wounded Hussar," J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 28(93), Firth c.14(235), Harding B 15(393a), Harding B 15(393b), Harding B 22(354), Harding B 36(9) View 2 of 2, Harding B 25(2115), Harding B 25(2113), Harding B 11(3888), Firth b.26(176), Harding B 11(3039), Firth b.25(72), Harding B 17(347b), Harding B 12(131), Harding B 11(370), Firth c.13(50), Harding B 17(347a), Harding B 17(347a)"[The] Wounded Hussar"
SAME TUNE:
Sweet Maiden I Admire Thee (per broadside Bodleian Firth c.14(235))
NOTES: South Riding Folk Network site: "The tune Captain O'Kane (spelled in various ways) is generally attributed to the harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), though this seems to rest solely on an unsubstantiated assertion by James Hardiman (Irish Minstrelsy, or, Bardic Remains of Ireland, 1831). During the first quarter of the 19th century, Thomas Campbell's verses, The Wounded Hussar, were set to it, and under this new name it spread throughout Britain."
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, "The Wounded Hussar" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001))
Harte quoting J Cuthbert Hadden: "This ballad, now entirely forgotten, attained an extraordinary popularity [in Glasgow and London]." - BS
For background on author Campbell, see the notes to "Lord Ullin's Daughter." - RBW
File: CrMa159

Wounded in Love

DESCRIPTION: The singer is seventeen and in love with "a very pretty man." She would go to her father's house, or her pretty man's mothers house. Lines about a gardner warning about primroses on "yon roddy bush." "Farewell all fading flowers"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: love flowers gardening nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1181, "Wounded in Love" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6805
NOTES: The description follows GreigDuncan6 1181a; GreigDuncan6 1181b changes the sex of the singer and the "very pretty man" becomes bonny Jean, "a very pretty girl." The song seems inspired by a poorly remembered "Seeds of Love." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61181

Wounded Soldier

See The Battle of Mill Springs [Laws A13] (File: LA13)

Wounded Spirit

DESCRIPTION: "It is true when I first read your letter That I blotted your name with a tear, I was young then, but now I know better." The other lover apparently has changed her(?) mind and remembered her promises, but "now I love another, not you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 196, "Wounded Spirit" (1 text)
Roud #7945
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject)
NOTES: Belden has only a fragment of this piece, and I can find no more. The general plot seems pretty clear, though. - RBW
File: Beld196

Wounded Whale, The

DESCRIPTION: As the sun rises "from her ocean bed," the whaling crew spots a whale and sets out in pursuit. They wound the beast; it struggles and dives but at last must come to the surface, where the crew finishes the kill
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1836 (Journal of the ship _Dartmouth_)
KEYWORDS: whale whaler death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 23-26, "The Wounded Whale" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 189-190, "There She Blows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2004
File: SWMS023

Wrap Me Up in My Tarpaulin Jacket

DESCRIPTION: A dying sailor [lumberjack, stockman] bids his comrades farewell, asking them to "wrap me up" in his work clothing and make other arrangements for his funeral. (He recalls his early life and hopes to sleep undisturbed)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1826 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(1594))
KEYWORDS: dying death funeral burial sailor logger shepherd
FOUND IN: Britain Canada(Newf) US Australia
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Friedman, p. 439, "The Dying Stockman" (1 text)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 90-91, 226, "The Dying Stockman"; pp. 118-119, "The Dying Bagman" (3 texts, 3 tunes); also probably pp. 264-265, "Cant-Hook and Wedges" (2 texts)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 170-171, "The Dying Stockman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 221-223, "The Dying Stockman" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 436-437, "Wrap Me Up in My Tarpaulin Jacket and The Handsome Young Airman" (2 short texts, 1 tune, with the "A" text going here and the "B" text being "The Dying Aviator")
Thorp/Fife XIII, pp. 148-190 (29-30), "Cow Boy's Lament" (22 texts, 7 tunes, the "K" text being in fact a version of "The Old Stable Jacket")
Manifold-PASB, pp. 82-83, "The Dying Stockman" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 281-282, "The Dying Stockman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 47, "Tarpaulin Jacket" (2 texts)
Leach-Labrador 98, "Jolly Best Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 880-881, "A Rambling Young Fellow" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT TARPJCKT*
Roud #829
RECORDINGS:
Frank Crumit, "Wrap Me Up in My Tarpaulin Jacket" (HMV [UK] B-8032, c. 1933)
John Greenway, "The Dying Stockman" (on JGreenway01)
Tex Morton, "Wrap Me Up With My Stockwhip and Blanket" (Regal Zonophone [Australia] G22904, n.d.)

BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1594)[some illegible words], "The Rakish Young Fellow," Angus (Newcastle), 1774-1825 ; also Harding B 11(3215), Harding B 16(218b), Harding B 25(1595)[some illegible words], Harding B 16(219a), Harding B 11(1211), Harding B 11(3216), Firth c.22(67)[almost entirely illegible but what is legible is recognizable as this song], Harding B 11(680), "[The] Rakish Young Fellow"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Aviator"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Old Stable (Sable) Jacket
Derrydown Fair
NOTES: Compare the modern song "Fiddler's Green," which may have been inspired by this piece.
The number of parodies of this piece ("The Dying Stockman," "The Dying Lumberman") is astonishing, but most seem to have evolved rather than being deliberate rewrites. The Australian version known as "Cant-Hook and Wedges" claims to be an exception; the informants claim to have written it. Certainly the piece has modern elements (e.g. a reference to the Model T Ford), but one is still inclined to doubt that it was created deliberately. - RBW
The contemplator.com Songs of England site has a version beginning "A tall stalwart lancer lay dying" with a note that "This appears in the Scottish Student's Handbook. The words were written by G. J. Whyte-Melville (1821-1878). The air was written by Charles Coote."
It is too easy to get hung up on the "wrap me up" line as a unique marker. In Peacock the line is just to "dress up in blue jacket and trousers," but that is the only substantial difference between Peacock and the broadsides. - BS
File: FR439

Wrap the Green Flag Round Me, Boys

DESCRIPTION: The dying soldier requestes, "Wrap the green flag 'round me, boys To die were far more sweet With Ireland's noble emblem, boys, to be my winding sheet." He wishes he had lived to see Irish victory, but promises his spirit will be near the flag
AUTHOR: J. K. O'Reilly
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Galvin)
KEYWORDS: Ireland death soldier
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
PGalvin, pp. 75-76, "Wrap the Green Flag Round Me, Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Connected by Galvin with the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923 (for which see "The Irish Free State") -- though in fact the song could apply as well to the 1916 rebellion, or even to earlier revolts. Indeed, in some ways, earlier revolts would make more sense; by the time of the Civil War, Ireland was turning to the tricolor green/white/orange flag. - RBW
File: PGa075

Wreck at Kankakee, The

DESCRIPTION: About a (nineteenth century) train wreck on the Kankakee River. The train crew includes engineer Barker and fireman Hosler
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1981 (Cohen); apparently first printed 1891
KEYWORDS: train wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 272, "The Wreck at Kankakee" (notes only)
File: LSRa272E

Wreck at Latona, The

See The Wreck of the 1262 (The Freight Wreck at Altoona) (File: DTwrck12)

Wreck at Maud, The (Al Bowen)

DESCRIPTION: About a train wreck near Maud, Illinois
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1981 (Cohen)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 23, 1904 - the Maud wreck
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 272, "Maud Wreck" (notes only)
Roud #3518
File: LSRa272H

Wreck between New Hope and Gethsemane

DESCRIPTION: The train of engineer Stergin is involved in a head-on collision on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
AUTHOR: Doc Hopkins, Karl Davis, Harty Taylor
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hopkins/Davis/Taylor, _Mountain Ballads and Home Songs_)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "Wreck between New Hope and Gethsemane" (notes only)
Roud #14028
File: LSRa274O

Wreck of No. 3, The (Daddy Bryson's Last Ride)

DESCRIPTION: Engineer Bryson's train is wrecked near Townsend, Tennessee
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1981 (Cohen)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 30, 1909 - TheTownsend wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "The Wreck of No. 3 (notes only)
Roud #14030
File: LSRa274I

Wreck of Number Four, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come railroad men and listen to me, A story you will hear, Of a wreck on the line of the old L and E...." The Number Four leaves the track. Engineer John Dailey is killed in the wreck. Listeners are reminded that death is always near
AUTHOR: Green Bailey
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Green Bailey)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death warning
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 31, 1928 - L & N train number four leaves the track near Torrent, Kentucky. 50-year-old engineer John Dailey (correct spelling) dies as he leaps from the cab; he is the only person killed
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 254-256, "The Wreck of Number Four" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Green Bailey, "The Wreck of Number Four" (Challenge 425 [as by Dick Bell], 1930; recorded 1929)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Wreck of Number Four and the Death of John Daily
File: LSRai254

Wreck of Number Nine, The [Laws G26]

DESCRIPTION: A railroad engineer, whose wedding is set for the next day, leaves his sweetheart and sets out on his train. Rounding a curve, he sees another train coming. He is mortally wounded in the crash. He leaves his fiancee the cottage that would have been theirs
AUTHOR: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: train wreck marriage death lastwill crash
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So,SW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws G26, "The Wreck of Number Nine"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 267-271, "The Wreck of Number Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 684, "The Wreck of Old Number Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 451-453, "The Wreck of Old Number Nine" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 684)
Cambiaire, pp. 88-89, "Number Nine" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 77-78, "The Wreck of Number Nine" (1 text)
DT 668, COLDWIN
Roud #3229
RECORDINGS:
Bud Billings [pseud. for Frank Luther], "The Wreck of Number Nine" (Montgomery Ward M-8054, 1939)
Vernon Dalhart, "Wreck of The Number 9" (Lincoln 2712, 1927) (Gennett 6051/Silvertone 5005, 1927) (Brunswick 101, 1927) (Okeh 45086, 1927) (Cameo 1247, 1927) (Columbia 15121-D [as Al Craver], 1927); "Wreck of the Number Nine" (Radiex 4172 [as Jeff Calhoun], 1928)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineer's "On a Cold Winter's Night" (Victor 27496, 1941)
Ernest Stoneman, "The Wreck of the Number Nine" (Broadway 8054, c. 1930); "Wreck of Number Nine" (on Autoharp01)
Stanley G. Triggs, "The Wreck of the Number Nine" (on Triggs1)
NOTES: This, like "Zeb Tourney's Girl" [Laws E18], appears to be a Robison song that became traditional as a result of the Vernon Dalhart recording, though this seems to have had a stronger grip on tradition.
Indeed, Cohen states that, of the train wreck ballads he printed, only "Old 97" an "Engine 143" ("The Wreck on the C & O" [Laws G3]) were more popular. Both of the former are anonymous, and both based on real events; this is therefore the most popular fictional train wreck song, and also the most popular train song with a single known author.
It entered tradition very quickly; Henry collected his version from Mary E. King in 1929.
In recent years, a part of this tune has found some additional success (at least in bluegrass circles) as the basis for the chorus in the Goble/Drumm song "Coleen Malone." - RBW
File: LG26

Wreck of Old 97, The [Laws G2]

DESCRIPTION: "Steve" Broady is told that, due to a mix-up in numbering, his train is "way behind time." He is driving as fast as he can to make up the time when, on a long downgrade, his brakes fail. The train goes off the track; Broady dies at the controls
AUTHOR: disputed (tune by Henry Clay Work)
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (recording, Henry Whitter); a 1922 variant form appears in Brown
KEYWORDS: crash wreck train death derivative
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 27, 1903 - "Old 97" goes off the track near Danville, killing engineer Joseph A. "Steve" Broady and at least ten others
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,Ro,SE,So)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws G2, "The Wreck of Old 97"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 197-226, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (6 texts plus excerpts, 1 tune, plus a sheet music cover and sundry excerpts from related songs including a text of "The Ship That Never Returned)
Randolph 683, "The Wreck of the Southern Old 97" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 449-451, "The Wreck of the Southern Old 97" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 683)
BrownII 217, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (6 field texts plus 3 more in the headnotes)
JHCoxIIB, #2A-B, pp. 118-121, "The Wreck of the Southern Ninety-Seven," "The Wreck of the Old 97" (2 texts, 2 tunes; both appear from their texts to have been learned from the Dalhart recording)
Cambiaire, p. 97, "The Wreck of Old Ninety-Seven" (1 text, another version probably derived from Dalhart)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 79-80, "Old Ninety-Seven" (1 text, with a little bit of "The Train That Never Returned" at the end)
Friedman, p. 318, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (1 text)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 449, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 214-215, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (1 text plus "The Rarden Wreck of 1893")
Silber-FSWB, p. 104 "The Wreck Of The Old 97" (1 text)
DT 634, WRECK97*
Roud #777
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Wreck of the Southern Old 97" (Edison 51361-R, 1924) (CYL: Edison [BA] 4898, prob. 1924) ; "Wreck of the Old 97" (Victor 19427-A, 1924) (Radiex 4131 [as Jeff Calhoun], 1927); "Wreck of the 97" (Bell 340, 1925) (Regal 8929, 1925/Apex [Can.] 8428, 1926); "Wreck of the Southern Old 97" (Champion 15121, 1926/Supertone 9241, 1928); "The Wreck of the Old 97" (Bluebird B-5335, 1934); "Wreck of the Southern No. 97" (Pathe 032068 [as Sid Turner], 1924) [this is a partial list; Dalhart is thought to have recorded "Wreck" several dozen times]
Kelly Harrell, "The Wreck on the Southern Old 97" (OKeh 7010, 1925; on KHarrell01)
Clayton McMichen & his Georgia Wildcats, "Wreck of the 97" (Varsity 5029, 1942)
John D. Mounce et al, "Wreck of Old 97" (on MusOzarks01)
George Reneau, "Wreck of The Southern Old 97" (Vocalion 5029, c. 1926)
Pete Seeger, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (on PeteSeeger17)
Ernest V. Stoneman Trio, "The Wreck of the Old 97" (OKeh, unissued, 1927)
Ernest Stoneman & Kahle Brewer, "Wreck of the Old 97" (OKeh unissued mx. 80344-A, rec. 1927; on ConstSor1)
Stoneman Family, "The Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven" (on Stonemans01)
Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, "The Wreck on the Southern Old 97" (Columbia 15142-D, 1927)
Ernest Thompson, "Wreck of the Southern Old 97" (Columbia 130-D, 1924)
Sid Turner, "Wreck of the Southern No. 97" (Perfect 12147, 1924)
Virginia Ramblers, "Wreck of Old 97" (OKeh, unissued, 1929)
Henry Whitter, "Wreck of the Southern Old 97" (Okeh 40015, 1924; rec. 1923)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship That Never Returned" [Laws D27] (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Train that Never Returned" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Rarden Wreck of 1893" (tune & metre, theme)
cf. "The Flying Colonel" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Speakers Didn't Mind (Greenway-AFP, pp. 136-137)
On a Summer Eve (Greenway-AFP, pp. 138-139)
NOTES: Authorship claimed by, among others, David Graves George; the legal battles over the song were extended. Brown has extensive notes which summarize the situation well. If anyone deserves credit for the pop version, it is probably Henry Whitter, who took a seemingly-traditional version and worked it into the form of the Dalhart recording.
Cohen has even more extensive documentation on this process (summarizing several full-length monographs on the subject); he is surprisingly sympathetic to George (not claiming that he wrote the song but that he did make original contributions).
The song is, in any case, derivative. The tune is taken from Henry Clay Work's "The Ship that Never Returned," and "The Ship" gave rise to at least two train wreck songs: "The Train that Never Returned" and "The Rarden Wreck of 1893." I've seen both listed as the source for "Old 97" -- though neither looks much like the latter song in the Whitter rendition (which, to be sure, is much worn down from texts Cohen regards as earlier sources).
I would note, though, that several of Brown's texts (including "D" from 1922) fall between "Train" and "Old 97." - RBW
File: LG02

Wreck of Old Ninety-Seven, The

See The Wreck of Old 97 [Laws G2] (File: LG02)

Wreck of Old Number Nine, The

See The Wreck of Number Nine [Laws G26] (File: LG26)

Wreck of the 'Mary Summers', The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the Mary Summers as you will see, Loaded in St. Andrews for the old countrie." An ocean-going freighter encounters heavy weather and begins leaking. The crew pumps for a week to no avail, but are rescued by the William Bradley.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Fowke/MacMillan)
KEYWORDS: wreck rescue sea ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/MacMillan 14, "The Wreck of the 'Mary Summers'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4473
NOTES: From Fowke/MacMillan: "Collected from Charles Cates in Vancouver, 1960. Cates said he had the song from his father, an East Coast seaman, who said the Mary Summers was a Nova Scotia ship, though there is no record of her in Canadian or British shipping registers." - SL
File: FowM014

Wreck of the 1256, The

DESCRIPTION: "On that cold and dark cloudy evenin', Just before the close of day, There came Harry Lyle and Dillard." An accident causes their train to fall into the James River. Lyle, with a head wound, dies in the cabin. Railroad men are warned of their danger
AUTHOR: Carson J. Robison (writing as Carlos B. McAfee)
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death warning
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 3, 1925 - On a cold night, the 1256 hits a rockslide and is pitched into the James River. Engineer Harry Lyle is killed; crewman Sydney Dillard is saved by hoboes
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 240-242, "The Wreck of the 1256" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11528
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Wreck of the 1256" (Columbia 15034-D [as by Al Craver], 1925)
File: LSRai240

Wreck of the 1262, The (The Freight Wreck at Altoona)

DESCRIPTION: Freight train 1262 is heading down the mountain when the air brakes fail. The brakeman tightens the brakes by hand, but the train still crashes; engineer and fireman are killed. Listeners are urged to be prepared, for "you cannot tell when He'll call"
AUTHOR: Words: Fred Tait-Douglas/Music: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (recordings, Vernon Dalhart)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Freight train 1262 is heading down the mountain when the engineer sounds the whistle; the air brakes have failed. The brakeman climbs out on the car tops and tightens the brakes by hand, but the train continues to accelerate. It crashes; the engineer and fireman are killed. Listeners are urged to always be prepared, for "you cannot tell when He'll call"
KEYWORDS: warning train death railroading work crash disaster wreck worker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 29, 1925 - Freight #1262 crashes near Altoona, PA, apparently due to defective air brakes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 243-246, "The Freight Wreck at Altoone/The Wreck of the 1262" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, pp. 64-65, "The Wreck at Latona" (1 text)
DT, WRCK1262
Roud #7128
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Freight Wreck at Altoona" (Victor 19999, 1926) (Columbia 15065-D [as Al Craver], 1926) (Radiex 4172 [as Jeff Calhoun], 1928; Sunrise 33056, 1929) (Herwin 75524, late 1920s) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5122, c. 1926)
Red River Dave, "Altoona Freight Wreck" (Musicraft 288, 1944)
Riley Puckett, "Altoona Freight Wreck" (Decca 5455, 1937)
NOTES: This comes pretty close to live journalism: The accident took place in late November 1925, and Dalhart was in the studio recording the result on January 15, 1926.
The REALLY strange part is, Cambiaire's head notes report of it, "Source: Edison Brown, who found it in old papers at his home in East Tennessee. This ballad has been sung for many years in the Cumberland Mountains." Sure, he calls the wreck site "Latona," but it's engine 1262, as in the commercial versions of the song. It looks as if either Cambiaire or Brown was tricked.
Altoona is a very interesting place for trains and train enthusiasts. The "Horseshoe Curve," built in the 1850s, was considered a major engineering feat at the time and is now an historical monument -- and it's steep (2375 feet/724 meters long, with a slope of 91 feet to the mile/17 meters to the kilometer). It's enough of a landmark to show up, e.g., in Webster's Geographical Dictionary. It looks almost like a hairpin, with a lake in the middle of the pin. It must be a really interesting region to drive a train.... - RBW
File: DTwrck12

Wreck of the 36, The

See The Wreck of Thirty-Six (File: ThBa112)

Wreck of the 444, The

DESCRIPTION: A wreck takes placeon the Norfolk and Western Railroad in Virginia, with crewmen Gillespie, Stuart, and Combs on the train.
AUTHOR: Bess McReynolds
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (WWVA Jamboree Book #2)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "The Wreck of 444" (notes only)
Roud #14031
File: LSRa274R

Wreck of the Annie Roberts, The

DESCRIPTION: Annie Roberts leaves Sydney, Nova Scotia for Lamaline, Newfoundland in a gale with a cargo of coal. The steamer Risenor crashes into the Annie and can only rescue one man.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 1, "The Wreck of the Annie Roberts" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: [Lehr/Best date this wreck to] October 22, 1913. Northern Shipwrecks Database places the collision in Sydney Harbour, makes the collision with SS Wabana, and estimates five lost.
I find no other reference to "a steamer Risenor" anywhere. - BS
File: LeBe001

Wreck of the Asia, The

DESCRIPTION: The paddlewheel steamer Asia leaves Owen Sound to cross Georgian Bay, but runs into a storm. The deaths of crew and passengers are described, including a newlywed couple; two cling to a lifeboat and survive
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (a portion provided to Walton by Mrs. Robert Reed)
KEYWORDS: travel death drowning ship disaster storm wreck moniker sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 14, 1882 - Paddlewheel steamer Asia sinks in Georgian Bay
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 208-209, "The Foundering of the Asia" (1 composite text)
Roud #3839
RECORDINGS:
C. H. J. Snider, "The Wreck of the 'Asia'" (on GreatLakes1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jam on Gerry's Rock" [Laws C1] (tune)
NOTES: The Asia left Owen Sound topheavy and overloaded with freight, intended for merchants in northern towns preparing for winter. When the storm struck, the captain made a fatal mistake; instead of keeping the ship faced to the wind, he turned and attempted to head for French River, allowing the force of the gale to strike the ship broadside. When the ship sprang a leak, lifeboats were lowered, but, overloaded, they foundered, and all drowned except two, Dunk Tinkles (called "Tinkus" in the Snider recording) and a Miss Morrison, 19. They clung to an overturned lifeboat and drifted to shore, where they were found by an old Indian who took them to Parry Sound. Mr. Snider recalls learning the song in 1891, and later collected several other versions from residents of the Georgian Bay area. - PJS
Earlier editions of this Index said that over 200 were killed when the Asia was wrecked, but this appears to be an exaggeration. William Ratigan's Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals, revised edition, Eerdmans, 1977, p. 103, gives the number of people on the boat as 125 -- while noting that "Every cabin on the Asia was filled with passengers, and there were others sleeping on every corner of the boat where a carpetbag or grain sack could cushion a head." Bruce D. Berman's Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks (Mariner's Press, 1972), p. 235, also says that 125 were lost.
The ship was reportedly top-heavy; the cargo had been placed on deck rather than going to the effort of securing it in the hold. And the weather was rough, but Captain John Savage hated wasting time in port. He set out on September 13, 1882, even though the "boisterous wind" was causing "mountainous seas."
By the next day, when the boat reached the open lake, it was evident that she would not survive. Savage tried to head for an island to beach her, and ordered the cargo thrown overboard (Ratigan, p. 104).
The ship was within sight of Lonely Island when "about 11:30, she pitched up at the head and went down stern first, the cabins breaking off and the boats floating off as she did so."
The two survivors were Duncan A. Tinkiss (Ratigan's and Walton's spelling), who was 17, and Christina Ann Morrison, listed as "under twenty." Several lifeboats were launched, but they all disappeared -- and the boat with Tinkiss and Morisson aboard repeatedly turned over; it initially held more than 20 people, but only seven, including the captain, managed to stay aboard -- and all but the two teenagers were dead by the end of the day (Ratigan, p. 105-107). Unable to control the boat due to the loss of the oars, they were finally rescued by a sailing craft.
Ratigan, p. 108, says that Tinkiss died in 1910, but Miss Morrison lived another 55 years -- i.e. until around 1938.
Walton's version is based in part on "clippings," raising the possibility that the song was first published in a newspaper, but I do not know of any proof of this. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcWreAsi

Wreck of the Atlantic

See The Loss of the Atlantic (II) (File: Pea933)

Wreck of the Avondale, The

DESCRIPTION: The lighter Avondale, bound from Carrick to the Gasworks, hits a bridge and is wrecked with 13 tons of coal. The crew -- Captain Britt, his little son, and dog -- survive.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: Nov 1903 (_Clonmel Chronicle,_ according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: river ship wreck dog children humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 20A, "The Wreck of the Avondale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9777
NOTES: A river boat wreck on the Suir river in South Tipperary. - BS
File: OLcM020A

Wreck of the Belle Sheridan, The

DESCRIPTION: "In the year of 1880, On a cold November day, With coal bound for Toronto, They left the Charlotte Bay." The mates are named. The captain sees a storm coming. The ship goes aground off Weller's Bay. A few are rescued, but several related crewmen die
AUTHOR: Mike Ryan?
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Toronto Evening Telegram)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck storm death
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 221-223, "The Wreck of the Belle Sheridan" (1 text, from print)
Roud #3842
File: WGM221

Wreck of the C & O Number Five, The

DESCRIPTION: "From Washington to Charlottesveile, then Staunton on the line Came the old Midwestern Limited...." The train hits a broken rail. It does not overturn, but veteran engineer Dolly Womack is killed by steam. He will pull a train in heaven
AUTHOR: Words: Cleburne C. Meeks / Music: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 6, 1920 - The westbound "Sportsman" train, redirected onto the eastbound track because of a derailment, hits a broken rail and crashes into a bank. Engineer Dolly Womack is partly buried in coal and scalded to death by steam
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 236-239, "The Wreck of the C & O Number Five" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #14023
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Wreck of the C & O Number Five" (Brunswick 117 [as by Al Craver], 1927); (Columbia 15135-D)
NOTES: Inspired by his success with "Billy Richardson's Last Ride," which was also set to must by Carson J. Robison and recorded by Vernon Dalhart, Cleburne C. Meeks wrote his second poem about a train wreck which had occurred some years earlier. In this case, I rather suspect he intended it to use the tune of "Wabash Cannonball," but Robison again supplied Dalhart's tune. - RBW
File: LSRai236

Wreck of the C & O Sportsman

DESCRIPTION: "Far away on the banks of New River, While the deep shades of twilight hunglow," engineer Haskell and fireman Anderson drive the trail. It goes off the train on a curve. The two are killed. The singer recalls the loved ones at home
AUTHOR: Bernice "Si" Coleman (1898-?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, Si Coleman and his Railroad Ramblers)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 21, 1930 - The Sportsman wreck. Engineer Homer E. Haskell (who had been with the line 35 years) and fireman Henry G. Anderson are killed and three others injured
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 264-266, "The Wreck of the C & O Sportsman" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Roy Harvey and the North Carolina Ramblers (=Si Coleman and his Railroad Ramblers), "The Wreck of the C & O Sportsman" (Superior 2701, 1931
NOTES: Cohen notes that this wreck "was possibly thelast to be memorialized in song" -- but hardly a popular one; fewer than 500 copies of the original disc were sold, and the odds that the song became traditional arevery poor. - RBW
File: LSRai264

Wreck of the Christabel, The

DESCRIPTION: Sunday, Christabel is anchored in Bonavista harbour. It is wrecked by a gale with a crew of nine on board. One jumps in a rowboat "to try what he could do" but is lost. Monday the remaining crew are rescued by rowboats.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1985 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: rescue death sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jun 7, 1885 - Christable/Christabel wreck in Bonavista Harbour (Lehr/Best, Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 22, "The Wreck of the Christabel" (1 text)
NOTES: Northern Shipwrecks Database shows as the cause "Stranded fin anchor" and notes that a monument was erected(?). - BS
File: Lebe022

Wreck of the Dandenong, The

DESCRIPTION: The Dandenong sets sail from Melbourne with 83 people on board. In a storm of Jervis Bay, her propeller shaft breaks and she begins to sink. A barque saves as many as possible, but many go down with the ship
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954
KEYWORDS: wreck ship disaster death
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 48-49, "The Wreck of the Dandenong" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 164-165, "The Wreck of the Dandenong" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA048

Wreck of the Eliza, The

DESCRIPTION: Barquentine Eliza is wrecked "at the fatal sand of Cahore Point" by hurricane winds. Rescue attempts by rocket line and life-boat fail though the life-boat itself returns safely.
AUTHOR: Pat Ennis of Cahore
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 24, 1895 - "The Eliza was lost at Cahore point"; three of the crew were rescued. (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 52)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 56-57, "The Wreck of the Eliza" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Jack Donahoe" (tune) and references there
NOTES: Cahore Point is south of the town of Gorey in northeast Wexford. According to the ballad it is "some leagues away" from home. - BS
File: Ran056

Wreck of the Enterprise (Machrihanish Bay)

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the storm of March 4, [18?]37. The Enterprise sails out from Peru and approaches Britain. The captain's wife calculates the position, but the ship runs aground. The crew drowns, while the folk on shore gather riches
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death ship wreck
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H558, pp. 106-107, "The Wreck of the Enterprise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9041
File: HHH558

Wreck of the Fanad Boat, The

DESCRIPTION: The boat sets out from Fanad with nineteen aboard "bound for the English harvest." A storm blows up and sinks the boat; fifteen of the nineteen are drowned. The singer lists their names and prays for them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck disaster
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H602, pp. 107-108, "The Wreck of the Fanad Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10383
File: HHH602

Wreck of the G & SI

DESCRIPTION: On Christmas Day, engineer Van Martin's Train 64 is wrecked on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1929 (recording by Happy Bud Harrison)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "Wreck of G & SI" (notes only)
RECORDINGS:
Happy Bud Harrison, "Wreck of The G.& S.I." (Vocalion 5350)
File: LSRa274P

Wreck of the Glenaloon, The

DESCRIPTION: A June night. A ship is in a dead wind and fog three leagues from land. The charts show no rocks or reefs but the captain thinks he sees a rock or wreck and sends a crew to investigate. It's the wreck of Glenaloon. They find and bury the dead crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: burial death sea ship wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Mackenzie 162, "The Wreck of the Glenaloon" (1 text)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 172-176, "The Wreck of the Glenna Loon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3288
File: Mack162

Wreck of the Glenna Loon, The

See The Wreck of the Glenaloon (File: Mack162)

Wreck of the Gwendoline, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer is cabin-boy on the Clonmel river boat Gwendoline. A storm comes up and they run aground. They walk ashore and go home by "ass an' car" Twenty horses pull her out of the weeds "but never more, by sea or shore, Will sail the Gwendoline"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: river commerce ship storm humorous wreck sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More, pp. 257-258, "The Wreck of the Gwendoline" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Star of the County Down" (tune) and references there
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
NOTES: Clonmel, South Tipperary, is on the river Suir. - BS
File: OLcM257

Wreck of the Hunnicut Curve, The

DESCRIPTION: "They called for a train crew at Paintsville, On a night that was rainy and drear." The train sets out, but goes off the tracks "only eight miles out of Paintsville On the Honnicut Curve so 'tis said." The brakeman lives, but the others die
AUTHOR: Buddy Preston?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 114-115, "The Wreck of the Hunnicut Curve" (1 text)
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "The Wreck of the Hunnicut Curve" (notes only)
ST ThBa114 (Partial)
Roud #14026
File: ThBa114

Wreck of the Huron, The [Laws D21]

DESCRIPTION: On a stormy night, the Huron receives orders to sail. The crew, despite the bad weather, obeys orders. The Huron runs aground on the North Carolina coast and is destroyed. A hundred crewmen's lives are lost
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 24, 1877 - The U.S.S. Huron is wrecked near Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. The number of dead was estimated as between 98 and 106
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws D21, "The Wreck of the Huron"
BrownII 288, "The Wreck of the Huron" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more)
DT 727, WRKHURON
Roud #2239
File: LD21

Wreck of the John B., The

See The John B. Sails (File: San022)

Wreck of the Julia Dean, The

DESCRIPTION: "Nigh forty years have passed away... since the wreck of the Julia Dean." A heavy storm in the Straits [of Mackinac] drives her onto an island. The songs of birds and the sound of the waves are heard by the wreck, "meet requiem for the Julia Dean."
AUTHOR: Daniel Webster Whittle (1840-1901)?
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (published by Whittle, according to Walton/Grimm/Murdock)
KEYWORDS: wreck
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 219-220, "The Wreck of the Julia Dean" (1 text)
NOTES: The notes in Walton/Grimm/Murdock connect this with an 1855 wreck. This is a big problematic, since Whittle published the poem in 1887, which is hardly "nigh forty years" after 1855. (And I have verified the 1887 date from pp. 83-84 of Marion Harland's 1901 book With the Best of Intentions: A Midsummer Episode, available on Google Books.) Adding to the confusion, at least two other boats named Julia Dean were wrecked in the 1850s in the Upper Midwest, though both of these were apparently on the Mississippi, not the Great Lakes. I suspect there has been some confusion of details.
I must confess to some concern about the validity of Walton's "collection," too -- did the informant, Mrs. Bonner, actually have this from tradition? Whittle's poem, as published in Harland, has a line of asterisks just where Walton/Grimm/Murdock prints a line of dots, as if to imply an omission.
Daniel Webster Whittle was a Civil War veteran who became a modestly successful publisher of hymns, man of them under the name "El Nathan." I must confess that the only one of his compositions I've ever heard of is "Neither Do I Condemn Thee," and even that was much more staid than the Black Evangelical version I've heard. He did edit the memoirs of Philip Paul Bliss. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: WGM219

Wreck of the Julie Plante, The

DESCRIPTION: "On wan dark night on de (Lak St. Clair)... de crew of de wood scow Julie Plante got scar' an' run below." The captain ties Rosie the cook to the mast, then jumps overboard. Both are drowned. The moral: "You can't get drown... so long you stay on shore"
AUTHOR: probably William Henry Drummond
EARLIEST DATE: 1897 (Drummond, _The Habitant_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French-Canadian dialect song. On Lak St. Pierre, the wood-scow "Julie Plante" encounters a fierce storm. They've lost their skiff, and the anchor won't hold; the captain ties the cook (Rosie) to the mast, takes the life-preserver, and jumps overboard, saying he'll drown for her sake. (?) Next morning the boat is wrecked and all are found dead. The singer warns listeners to marry and live on a farm; "You can't get drown on Lak St. Pierre/So long as you stay on shore."
KEYWORDS: ship disaster humorous death warning work storm wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont) US(MW)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Rickaby 22, "On Lac San Pierre" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Beck 76, "The Wreck of the Julie Plante" (1 text plus two fragments of another)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 155-158, "The Wood Scow Julie Plante" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 174-175, "The Wreck of the Julie Plante" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 62, "The Julie Plante" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: William Henry Drummond, M.D., _The Habitant and other French Canadian Poems_, Putnam, 1897, pp. 8-10, "The Wreck of the 'Julie Plante'" (1 text)
ST FJ174 (Full)
Roud #4545
RECORDINGS:
Harry Barney, "The Wood Scow Julie Plante" (1938; on WaltonSailors)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yim Yonson" (tune)
NOTES: Yes, that's "Lak." Why jumping overboard will save the cook, I don't know. - PJS
The hint here may come from Walton's classification of this as a scow boat song. The scows operated in very shallow water -- sometimes so shallow that you could stand on the bottom and keep your head above water. Of course, if the water is that shallow, you might as well stay aboard till the scow runs aground, because it can't sink very deep....
This was apparently a very well-known Great Lakes songl Walton found seven sailors who recalled complete or nearly-complete text.
Drummond's original poem (written, like most of his work, in "habitant" or French-Canadian English) was subtitled "A Legend of Lac St. Pierre" (Lake St. Peter). In oral tradition, however, this was often changed to the more familiar Lake St. Clair. According to Walton, Detroiters claimed the song as a true folk song, but there seems no absolute proof of this.
What is certain is that Drummond's book was extremely popular. I recently acquired a 1903 copy which listed the publication history. The book was first published in November 1897. There were two editions printed in that month, two more in December 1897, five in 1898, three in 1899, two in 1900, two in 1901, two in 1902, and mine is from January 1903. So there were 19 printings in the first 63 months of the book's existence! - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FJ174

Wreck of the Kinsale, The

DESCRIPTION: Kinsale leaves the Clyde for France November 18. In heavy winds and seas "'The engine's broke,' our captain said" and she drifts into the cliffs. A wealthy lady offers 500 pounds "to be secure" but drowns. From shore two Hook ladies rescue four.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 21, 1872: Kinsale's engine shaft snaps and ship is driven against a cliff; three of crew of nineteen and one passenger are saved (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 75)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 36-37, "The Wreck of the Kinsale" (1 text)
NOTES: Ranson: The singer said "the ballad was composed by a man named Carroll, a schoolmaster, in Templetown, at the time of the wreck. The bell of the 'Kinsale' hangs above the entrance to Duncannon school yard." - BS
File: Ran036

Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls sailing on the Lady Shearbrooke, and describes how the ship was wrecked on the rocks, with only 33 surviving. Upon returning to the banks of the Foyle, he sees Mary Doyle lamenting her lost love. He steps up and reveals himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: love separation ship wreck disaster reunion
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jul 19, 1831 - Lady Sherbrooke stranded at Mouse Island near Port aux Basques Newfoundland en route from Londonderry, Ireland to Quebec. See NOTES. (Source: Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H570, pp. 310-311, "Mary Doyle/The Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 79-82, "The Ship Lady Sherbrooke" (1 text)
Roud #1974
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lady of the Lake (The Banks of Clyde II)" [Laws N41] (plot)
cf. "Thomas and Nancy" [Laws K15] (theme)
NOTES: Smith/Hatt has the captain's name as Henry Gambols; Northern Shipwrecks Database has it as Henry Gambles. NSDB has various numbers of lost among the crew and cargo of immigrants: for example, 30/306, 30/360, 36/575 saved/total. - BS
File: HHH570

Wreck of the Maggie, The

DESCRIPTION: Maggie leaves Brooklyn in Bonavista Bay and arrives in St John's harbour "when Captain Blunden cried, 'My boys, there's a steamer bearing down.'" Maggie and the steamer Tiber crash. Many are drowned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: death ship crash wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 7, 1896 - The Maggie sinks after collision with the Tiber in St John's Harbour (source: Northern Shipwrecks DataBase)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Leach-Labrador 80, "The Wreck of the Maggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 70, "The Maggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 42-43, "The Wreck of the Maggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab080 (Partial)
Roud #4413
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Loss of the Maggie" (subject)
File: LLab080

Wreck of the Mary Jane, The

DESCRIPTION: A song to "dryland sailors" about the Mary Jane, bound from Taghmon with a crew of 200 and a cargo of dung. When the cargo shifts in a storm the captain gives up hope. Short of tobacco they plan to put in at a pub. They run ashore at a doctor's door.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck Africa Ireland humorous sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 20, "The Wreck of the Mary Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3026
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Calabar" (theme and first line)
NOTES: Taghmon is in south central County Wexford (not on the coast). When the storm hits they steer for Timbuctoo, Mali, hardly a coastal port of call. The term "dryland sailor" -- to judge by broadside Bodleian, Firth c.12(409), "The Dryland Sailor!" ("I never was on board a ship ") -- refers to a panhandler who pretends to be an old sailor with faked injuries because "that's the thing that pays." - BS
File: Oloc020

Wreck of the Morning Mail, The

DESCRIPTION: George Minnick's Number 23 train is wrecked on the Pennsylvania Railroad in Illinois.
AUTHOR: Words: Jake Taylor
EARLIEST DATE: 1939? (_Jake Taylor an His Rail Splitters Log Book_)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "The Wreck of the Morning Mail" (notes only)
File: LSRa274Q

Wreck of the Morrissey, The

DESCRIPTION: Captain Charles Bailey takes the Morrissey from St Mary's Bay to Cape Breton. He picks up a load of fish at Bonne Bay and heads out to the Gulf of St Lawrence in spite of a hurricane.
AUTHOR: Nick Kane
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: sea ship storm wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 981-982, "The Wreck of the Morrissey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9815
NOTES: The wreck and captain's name are reported in Northern Shipwrecks Database as occurring at Lat 46N Long 060W but with no date or further details. Those coordinates are on the east coast of Cape Breton Island near Mira Bay. - BS
File: Pea981

Wreck of the N & W Cannonball

DESCRIPTION: Two trains, one on the Norfolk and Western, the other on the Atlantic Coast line, collide in Virginia
AUTHOR: Words: Cleburne C. Meeks / Music: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1981 (Cohen)
KEYWORDS: train wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 27, 1903 - The Cannonball wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, p. 272, "Wreck of the N & W Cannonball" (notes only)
Roud #14014
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Wreck of the N & W Cannonball" (Columbia 15378-D)
File: LSRa272G

Wreck of the Nimrod, The

DESCRIPTION: The steamship Nimrod sets out from Moreton Bay for Liverpool. When a storm blows up, not even the skilled crew can keep the ship from running aground. At last a bark picks up the survivors
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck disaster rescue
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H717, p. 108, "The Wreck of the Nimrod" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13369
NOTES: Not related to "The Nimrod's Song," which is about seal hunters, nor (it is clear) is the ship the same as Ernest Shackleton's famous Nimrod, which sold to buy the ill-fated Endurance. - RBW
File: HHH717

Wreck of the Old 97, The

See The Wreck of Old 97 [Laws G2] (File: LG02)

Wreck of the Old Southern 97, The

See The Wreck of Old 97 [Laws G2] (File: LG02)

Wreck of the Rebecca, The (The Mary Cochrane)

DESCRIPTION: The singer emigrates to America. He takes ship. Part way through the voyage, the ship springs a leak. Eventually it overwhelms the pumps. Another vessel comes by and takes off the passengers shortly before she sinks
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: ship disaster emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H565, p. 111, "The Wreck of the Rebecca"; H754, pp. 111-112, "The Good Ship Mary Cochrane" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #13370
NOTES: The two versions in the Henry collection are clearly derived from the same original lyrics (though the tunes are distinct); I've no idea how the ship ended with such different names. - RBW
File: HHH565

Wreck of the Regulus

See The Loss of the Regulus (File: Pea956)

Wreck of the Royal Palm

DESCRIPTION: On the Royal Palm and Ponce de Leon trains, heading home for Christmas, all is cheerful despite a storm. The trains collide; many are killed or hurt. The singer warns hearers to keep their orders straight; if they get their orders mixed it'll be too late
AUTHOR: Andrew Jenkins
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: grief warning train death railroading crash disaster storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec. 23, 1926 - Crash of Royal Palm & Ponce de Leon, on the Southern Railway
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 247-249, "The Wreck of the Royal Palm" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 218, "The Wreck of the Royal Palm" (1 text)
DT, ROYALPLM*
Roud #4149
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Wreck of the Royal Palm" (Brunswick 101/Romeo 350, 1927; Pathe 32380, 1928) (Gennett 6051/Silvertone 5005, 1927) (OKeh 45086, 1927) (Columbia 15121-D [as Al Craver], 1927)
Frank Luther, "Wreck of the Royal Palm" (Grey Gull 4200, 1928)
Clarence H. Wyatt, "The Wreck of the Royal Palm" (AFS 10,892 A5, 1954; on LC61)
NOTES: This song seems to have moved into tradition directly from Dalhart's recordings. - PJS
The song is idem dG51 in Laws's Appendix II. Brown, who is unaware of the authorship, gives details on the wreck, the result of bad weather and a failure to obey orders. 19 people were reported dead and 123 injured.
Cohen notes the curiosity that the song talks mostly about the Royal Palm though the deaths all occured on the Ponce de Leon. It also appears that the crew of the latter train was primarily responsible for the accident.
This is another case of Vernon Dalhart putting out a song as soon as possible after the accident; Dalhart recorded it on January 14, 1927, three weeks after the event. One wonders how Jenkins had time to get the song to him. - RBW
File: DTroyalp

Wreck of the Semmity (Yosemite), The

DESCRIPTION: The Yankee vessel Yosemite ("Semmity") crosses the Gulf in a storm with "a load of frozen herring" and crashes on a reef. All but one of the crew are rescued.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 21, 1897 - wreck of the Yosemite "on Ram Island ... off the Nova Scotian coast" (Lehr/Best)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Peacock, pp. 983-984, "The Wreck of the Semmity" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 85, "The Old Smite" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9818
File: Pea983

Wreck of the Shenandoah

DESCRIPTION: "At four o'clock one evening On a warm September day A great and mighty airship From Lakehurst flew away." The dirigible encounters a storm and is wrecked. Fourteen people die. The mother of one of the crew watches in vain for the vessel
AUTHOR: Maggie Andrews (pseudonym of Carson J. Robison)
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recordings, Vernon Dalhart, Guy Massey)
KEYWORDS: technology disaster death wreck mother
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 3, 1925 - Wreck of the naval dirigible Shenandoah, commanded by Lt. Commander Zachary Landsdowne
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 219, "The Wreck of the Shenandoah" (1 text)
ST BrII219 (Full)
Roud #4150
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Wreck of the Shenandoah" (Columbia 15041-D, 1925) (Edison 51620, 1925) (Cameo 809, 1925) (OKeh 40460 [as Tobe Little], 1925) (Vocalion 15125 [as Jep Fuller], 1925)
Guy Massey, "Wreck of the Shenandoah" (Perfect 12218, 1925)
NOTES: This is item dG52 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
I would've placed bets on "Maggie Andrews" being a pseudonym for Andrew Jenkins, but a website on the Shenandoah wreck (http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-Shenandoah) states that it was actually a pseudonym for the team of Dalhart and Carson Robison. - PJS
According to Norm Cohen, "Maggie Andrews" was the maiden name of Robison's mother, and he copyrighted a lot of material under it. Of course, Robison also worked with Andrew Jenkins, so there could have been at least a little cross-influence. In fact. the 1925 sheet music for "Floyd Collins," one of Jenkins's songs, was published with the first page of "The Wreck of the Shenandoah" on the back cover to try to sell the song. It's an interesting item -- the earliest instance I can recall of a piano arrangement with chord diagrams (although the chords are for ukulele in GCEA tuning). That same first page is included in the sheet music of Jenkins's "The Dream of the Miner's Child" (even though, in that case, they had to add two pages to the sheet music to include the plug). Evidently the publishers thought the had a potential major hit on their hands. The evidence does not support their belief. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BrII219

Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver, The

See Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16] (File: LI16)

Wreck of the Southern Ninety-Seven, The

See The Wreck of Old 97 [Laws G2] (File: LG02)

Wreck of the Steamship Ethie, The

DESCRIPTION: On the afternoon of December 10, 1919, the "Ethie"-- despite the skilled work of her crew -- encounters a terrible storm and runs aground around one o'clock in the morning. All manage to reach shore in a boatswain's chair.
AUTHOR: Maude Roberts Simmonds
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: wreck rescue ship
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec11, 1919 - Wreck of the Ethie (in the early morning)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 138, "The Wreck of the Steamship Ethie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 59, "The Wreck of the Steamship Ethie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 88, "The Wreck of the Steamship Ethie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 86-87, "The Wreck of the Steamship Ethie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6345
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All ye Jolly Ice-Hunters" (theme)
NOTES: Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf went to Sally's Cove as a volunteer teacher for Sir Wilfred Genfell's mission in the spring of 1920. Sally's Cove, near Bonne Bay on the west coast, is only two miles south from the wreck which occurred at Martin's Point.
For the account of her experiences with the song, consult R.D. Madison ed, Newfoundland Summers: the Ballad Collecting of Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf (Westerly, RI: The Utter Co., 1982), pp. 11-14. Some of the words are included with paraphrases inserted. - SH
Greenleaf's account is included in Greenleaf/Mansfield for this song - BS
Roud lumps this song with "Come All ye Jolly Ice-Hunters" -- a song with which it shares some elements, but this song is based on an incident almost a century more recent. - RBW
File: Doy59

Wreck of the Steamship Florizel, The

DESCRIPTION: A chronicle of the tragic wreck of the S.S. Florizel off Renews Rocks where 40 were saved out of 106.
AUTHOR: Words: Joan Endacott; Music: Harvey Freeman
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: wreck sea ship disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb 23/24 - Wreck of the Florizel
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 140, "The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 31, "The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 72, "The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 38, "The Florizel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 84-85, "The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4417
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel" (on NFOBlondahl04)
NOTES: An extensive account of this wreck is found in Cassie Brown's A Winter's Tale. Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1992. The boat was taking passengers from St. John's to Halifax then on to New York. The authors of the song are from nowhere near the [site of] the incident and the words were written three years after the wreck while the tune was written eleven years after. - SH
This song is item dD35 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Doy31

Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train

DESCRIPTION: The people of Tennessee want to know who wrecked their "gravy train"; bonds were issued to build highways, now the money's tied up, the people have nothing to show for it, and the banks have gone bust.
AUTHOR: Uncle Dave Macon
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer says the people of Tennessee want to know who wrecked their "gravy train"; in a major scandal, bonds were issued for $5 million to build highways, now the money's tied up, the people have nothing to show for it, and the banks have gone bust. A Dave Macon chorus: "And now we're up against it, and no use to raise a row/Of all the times I've ever seen, we're sure up against it now/The only thing that we can do is to do the best we can/Follow me, good people, I'm bound for the promised land"
KEYWORDS: crime theft political money
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "We Are Up Against It Now" (Vocalion 5009, 1926)
Uncle Dave Macon & Sam McGee, "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" (Okeh 45507, 1931; rec. 1930; on HardTimes2)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" (on NLCR09)
NOTES: This is the only old-time song I know about embezzlement, making it hard to assign keywords. - PJS
File: RcWOTTGT

Wreck of the Vartry, The

DESCRIPTION: The Vartry sailed the Liffee overloaded with a cargo of Double X casks. A storm sinks her "ere they reached the Customs House" "All ye who drink of James's Gate (No matter what your sex), Take warning by the Vartry's fate, Thro' too much Double X!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: river ship drink storm wreck humorous
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1907 - wreck of the Guinness barge Vartry (OLochlainn)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OLochlainn, p. 231, "The Wreck of the Vartry" (1 fragment)
OLochlainn-More, pp. 251-252, "The Wreck of the Vartry" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Limerick Is Beautiful" (tune)
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Calabar" (theme and first line)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "In 1920 there were 12 Guinness barges in use.... The Vartry was built in 1902. The Wreck celebrated in the ballad occurred in 1907. These red and black funnelled steam barges plied the Guinness wharf near Kingsbridge, and the Customs House Quay, up to the year 1963." - BS
File: OLoc231A

Wreck of the Virginian Number Three, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you brave, bold railroad men and listen while I tell The fate of E. G. Aldrich...." He was "the oldest on the road," but still loved his work and would not retire. He and his fireman die in a crash. Railroad couples are told to be faithful
AUTHOR: probably Blind Alfred Reed
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Blind Alfred Reed)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death warning
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 24, 1927- A freight train and Virginia Rail passenger train #3 collide near Ingleside, West Virginia. The fault was apparently that of the crew of the passenger train. Engineer "Dad" Aldrich, fireman Frank O'Neal, and one other are scalded to death; 22 are injured
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 250-253, "The Weck of the Virginian Number Three" (1 text plus texts of two other songs about the same incident, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Blind Alfred Reed, "The Wreck of the Virginian" (Victor 20836, 1927)
NOTES: Cohen observes three recorded songs about this accident (recorded and probably composed by Blind Alfred Reed, Roy Harvey and the North Carolina Ramblers, and John McGhee). There is, at best, limited evidence that any of them went into tradition.
Cohen notes that the Reed recording was withdrawn from circulation at the request of the Virginia Railway -- ironic, given that the Reed version doesn't blame anyone. - RBW
File: LSRai250

Wreck of the Yosemite, The

See The Wreck of the Semmity (Yosemite) (File: Pea983)

Wreck of Thirty-Six, The

DESCRIPTION: "It was on one July morning About eight o'clock they say, When Thirty-Six left Ashland And thundered on her way." The train makes good time, but starts to shake and derails, scalding fireman Buddy Cheap to death though engineer McDonney is saved.
AUTHOR: Jim Dobbins?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 112-113, "The Wreck of Thirty-Six" (1 text)
Cohen-LSRail, p. 274, "The Wreck of the 36" (notes only)
ST ThBa112 (Partial)
Roud #14027
File: ThBa112

Wreck on the C & O, The [Laws G3]

DESCRIPTION: George Alley, a railroad engineer, is warned by his mother not to drive too fast. But George wants to set a speed record. As his train speeds, it runs into a rock from a landslide and is wrecked. George is killed; his mother gets to say "I told you so"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (Railroad Man's Magazine, according to Cohen)
KEYWORDS: wreck train death mother railroading worker warning crash
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 23, 1890 - Death of engineer George Alley when the FFV train on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad was wrecked by a landslide near Hinton, West Virginia
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws G3, "The Wreck on the C & O"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 183-196, "The Wreck on the C & O/Engine 143" (3 texts plus a reproduction of a broadside, 2 tunes; also an item, "There's Many a Man Been Murdered in Luzon," which appears related and may influence the date of this song)
Randolph 682, "The Wreck on the C. & O." (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Warner 179, "The Wreck on the C & O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shellans, pp. 60-61, "The F. F. V." (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 115-116, (no title) (1 fragmented text)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 62 "Engine 143" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-AFSB, pp. 31-34, "The Wreck on the C. & O. (The Death of Jack Hinton)" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 47, "The Wreck on the C. & O." (6 texts plus mention of 5 more; 2 tunes)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 725, "The Wreck on the C. & O." (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 451, "The Wreck on the C&O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 371, "There's Many a Man Killed on the Railroad" (1 text, 1 tune, a fragment with only the "There's man been killed on the railroad" stanza, which could be from this, or "Talmadge Osborne," or others)
Silber-FSWB, p. 100 "Engine 143" (1 text)
DT 635, ENGIN143*
Roud #255
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Engine 143" (Victor V-40089, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4743, 1935; Bluebird B-6223, 1937; on AAFM1, RRinFS)
Duke Clark, "The Wreck of the F. F. & V." (Superior 2687, 1931)
Vernon Dalhart, "Wreck of the C & O #5" (OKeh 45102, 1927)
Austin Harmon, "George Allen" (AFS 2916 A, 1939; on LC61)
Roy Harvey & the North Carolina Ramblers, "The Brave Engineer" (Columbia 15174-D, 1927)
Bradley Kincaid, "Wreck on the C & O Road" (Gennett 6823/Champion 15710 [as Dan Hughey]/Supertone 9350, 1929; Champion 45098/Melotone [Canada] 45057, 1935)
George Reneau, "The C & O" (Vocalion 14897, 1924) (Vocalion 5050, 1927)
Charles Lewis Stine, "The Wreck of the C & O" (Columbia 15027-D, 1925; Harmony 5145-H, c. 1930)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Wreck of the C & O" (Edison 51823, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5198, prob. 1926), "The Wreck on the C & O" (OKeh 7011, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Death of Talmadge Osborn" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Fatal Run" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The FFV
NOTES: Of the two songs about wrecks on the C & O (the other is "The C. & O. Wreck"), this one is the better known and probably older. Many versions have a chorus (not found in the Digital Tradition version), "Many's a man's been murdered by the railroad / And laid in his lonesome grave" (e.g. this chorus occurs in five of Cox's six texts). - RBW
Oh dear, this gets confusing. "Many a man's been murdered by the railroad" is an ending bridge from "The Fate of Talmadge Osborne." And it shows up here too.... - PJS
Cox supplies many further details about this song. According to his report, George Alley was thirty when he died, and already had four children. He lived for five hours after the wreck. Reportedly the fireman did jump from the engine, and survived.
Cohen has an extensive discussion of the song, noting that it has many errors in the text (e.g. he shows a photo of Alley, who had straight dark hair, not golden and not curly). He theorizes that the song was composed some years after the event, when memories were fading. It strikes me as at least as likely that the song is a modification of an older item, with the errors being holdovers from that piece. - RBW
File: LG03

Wreck on the Highway

DESCRIPTION: Singer sees automobile wreck with passengers killed,, "where whiskey and blood run together...I heard the wreck on the highway/But I didn't hear nobody pray"
AUTHOR: Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST DATE: 1930s
KEYWORDS: grief death crash disaster wreck
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, WRCKHWAY
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys, "Wreck on the Highway" (Okeh 06685, 1942; Columbia 37028, 1946; Columbia 37596/Columbia 20195, 1947; Columbia 52026, 1956)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Wreck on the Highway" (on NLCR08)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray" (words)
File: DTwreckh

Wrecked Ship, The

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

Wren, The (The King)

DESCRIPTION: A tale of the hunting of the wren on Saint Stephen's Day. Boys go out, hunt the wren, and bring it home for a reward: "The wren, the wren, the king of all birds / St. Stephen's Day was caught in the forest / Although he be little, his honor is great..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (Henderson)
KEYWORDS: carol hunting wren
FOUND IN: US(NE) Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders/Olney, pp. 58-59, "The Wran" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WRENSONG WRENSNG2*
Roud #4683
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cutty Wren" (subject)
cf. "Hunt the Wren" (subject)
NOTES: The English legend that the wren is the king of birds has a parallel in German. A tale from the Brothers Grimm ("The Wren"/"Dier Zaunkonig," 1840, from Johann Jakob Nikolas Musaus) explains that, when the birds decided they needed a king, they decided to hold a contest to find the king. First they said that the bird that could fly highest would be king. The eagle would have flown highest, but the wren rode on its back and so managed to climb higher still. Then the birds decided to try a digging contest. The wren slipped down a convenient mouse hole, and won that round also. So the wren became the king.
There is a similar Danish legend (Jones-Larousse, p. 462; Pickering, p. 320).
Palmer, p. 60, quotes an interesting couplet:
He that hurts a robin or wren
Will never prosper on sea or land.
Pickering, p. 320, says that the wren was identified as the wife of the robin. This explains the name "Jenny Wren": the wren was always female (Simpson/Roud, p. 397)
It's possible that the equation of wrens with kings goes back to the Greeks; the Greek word BASILISKOS, "little king," is listed in Liddell/Scott, p. 230, as meaning, among other things, the golden-crested wren -- but they cite only one instance (Plutatch, citing Aesop); the usual meaning of the word is "royal" or "official" (so, e.g., in the New Testament -- or, rather, in variant readings; BASILISKOS is used only in variant readings in John 4:46, 49, of the "official" of Capernaum who had a sick child. In the LXX Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, it occurs in Psalm 90:13 [91:13 English), where it refers to a venomous snake, and in some manuscripts of Isaiah 59:5, where again it seems to mean "adder" or "viper"; English "basilisk" of course derives from this meaning.)
The identical equation seems to occur in Latin: "regulus" means "petty king" (compare rex, king), but the word is also, in the Vulgate of the Hebrew Bible, used for a poisonous snake and (in secular writings) for a small bird (FreundEtAl, p. 1553). The latter two uses are rare; my two shorter Latin dictionaries do not mention them (although Hazlitt, pp. 665-666, declares that the word refers specifically to all types of wrens. Hazlitt also notes that some Romance languages use kingly names for the wren, presumably from the Latin). A good analogy might be to refer to a king cobra as a "king" rather than a "cobra."
The German name of the wren, interestingly, is zaunkonig, fence-king. In Danish, this becomes elle-king, alder-king (Hazlitt, p. 666); compare German erlkonig (which, however, is used for a malevolent tree-spirit which steals souls, not for the wren; Jones-Larousse, p. 164; Pickering, p. 98).
Stewart, p. 20, claims that the wren was the totem of the Celtic god Bran. O hOgain, p. 37, however, reports that it was considered an unlucky bird in Ireland.
Elsewhere, killing a wren was said to invite bad luck (Pickering, p. 320) -- except, perhaps, when it came time to Hunt the Wren:
The legend in Ireland (O hOgain, p. 37) is that the wren betrayed Stephen to death, and hence was hunted on St. Stephen's Day. There is, of course, no Biblical warrant for this; the account in Acts 6 makes it sound as if Stephen was arrested in public circumstances, and he certainly was publicly tried and executed.
In many parts of the British Isles, it became the custom to capture a wren (Hazlitt, p. 666) on St. Stephen's Day (December 26), perhaps kill it (Frazier, p. 621), and parade it about (perhaps at the end of a pole or in a trap; Frazier, p. 622), perhaps while asking for alms or food.
Explanations of this custom vary. Kennedy quotes an account in which a wren's song aroused a sleeping sentry and saved English and Manx soldiers from an attack in Ireland. Garnett/Gosse, volume I, p. 298, claim that the "report of Brian Boru's great victory over the Danes on St. Stephen's Day survives in Ireland in a carol about a wren." (Uh-huh. For this story, see "Remember the Glories of Brian the Brave" -- and note that most sources place Clontarf on Good Friday 1014; see, e.g., Fry/Fry, p. 57. In any case, this would hardly explain the existence of the custom in Wales, the Isle of Man, and even parts of England; Simpson/Roud, p. 320). There is even a partial analogy in France, where boys beat the bushes for wrens, with the first one to kill one is the king; the parading of the wren follows (Frazier, p. 623). Frazier, p. 623, compares it to "the Gilyak procession with the bear, and the Indian one with the snake." (Interesting indeed, that last, given the Greek and Latin use of one word for wrens and snakes).
Vallancey claims that the wren was used in augury by the Druids, and so Christian missionaries hunted it to prevent this use (Hazlitt, p. 666). Flanders and Olney also date it back to druidism.
Another story says that it will precede a future hero (e.g. King Arthur). Frazer compares the whole business to various coronation quests and hunts for sacred animals. Greenway offers perhaps the greatest stretch of all, considering the wren to represent the "indomitable peasant." - RBW
Bibliography

Frazier: Sir James George Frazier, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, 1922 (I use the abridged 1978 MacMillan paperback edition)
FreundEtAl, A New Latin Dictionary, "Founded on the Translation of Freund's Latin-German Lexicon Edited by E. A. Andrews... Revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short," Harper & Brothers, 1886
Fry/Fry: Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, A History of Ireland, 1988 (I use the 1993 Barnes & Noble edition)
Garnett/Gosse: Richard Garnett and Edmund Gosse, English Literature: An Illustrated Record four volumes, MacMillan, 1903-1904 (I used the 1935 edition published in two volumes)
Hazlitt: W. C. Hazlitt, Dictionary of Faiths & Folklore, Reeves & Turner, 1905 (I use the 1995 Studio Editions paperback)
Jones-Larousse: Alison Jones, Larousse Dictionary of World Folklore, Larousse, 1995 (I use the 1996 paperback edition)
Liddell/Scott: Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, fifth edition, Oxford, 1864
O hOgain: Daithi O hOgain, The Lore of Ireland, Boydell Press, 2006
Palmer: Roy Palmer, The Folklore of Warwickshire, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976
Pickering: David Pickering, The Cassell Dictionary of Folklore, Cassell, 1999
Simpson/Roud: Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford, 2000
Stewart: Bob Stewart, Where Is Saint George? Pagan Imagery in English Folksong, revised edition, Blandford, 1988

Last updated in version 2.5
File: FO059

Wrestle On, Jacob

DESCRIPTION: ""I hold my brother with a trembling hand, The Lord will bless my soul, Wrestle on, Jacob, Jacob, day is a-breaking." "I will not let you go, My Lord. "Fisherman Peter out to sea" "He cast all night...." "He catch no fish, but catch some soul."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious fishing fight
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 4, "Wrestle On, Jacob" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11836
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wrestlin' Jacob" (lyrics, theme)
NOTES: This bears a great deal of similarity to "Wrestlin' Jacob," in the Brown collection. Both refer to Jacob's wrestling with God, described in Genesis 32:22-32 (thought by many to be a converted folktale, since it sounds as if Jacob is wrestling with a night-demon, and it ends with a "just so" story about why the Israelites don't eat a certain muscle of the body).
The two, however, have somewhat different forms, and Brown lacks a tune to link them. Plus this song has a second incident, Peter's miraculous catch, derived from John 21:3-6 or Luke 5:3-6 or some combination of the two. On this basis, I am very tentatively splitting the song, while admitting that they could easily be lumped. (Roud lumps them). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG004B

Wrestlin' Jacob

DESCRIPTION: "Wrestlin' Jacob seek de Lawd. I will not let thee go. And wrestle all night till the break ob day." "Wrestle Jacob; day is a-breakin'." "(Brethren/Elders/etc., don't get weary (x4) For de work is almost done. Keep your lamps trimmed and burnin'...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious fight Bible nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 656, "Wrestlin' Jacob" (1 text)
Roud #11836
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wrestle On, Jacob" (lyrics, subject)
NOTES: The wrestling match between God and Jacob at Peniel/Penuel, which ended as day broke, is told in Genesis 32:22-32.
There is, incidentally, a strong folkloric element to the story; it appears that Jacob may originally have been wrestling with some sort of minor demon, and the story was cleaned up. Imperfectly, since the place is called both Peniel/Penual (and what was The Ineffable God doing in a wrestling match anyway?). It even has a "just so" moral: The Israelites did not eat a particular part of an animal, because the demon injured Jacob there.
This may well be the same as "Wrestle On, Jacob," since they have many common lyrics. The form is a little different, though, and "Wrestle On" has New Testament references not found here. If Brown had had a tune, that might have decided me in favor of lumping. But Brown doesn't have a tune, and when in doubt, we split. - RBW
File: Br3656

Wrestling With Rats

See The Waterford Boys (File: GrMa072)

Wretched Rambling Boy, The

See The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)

Wright and Ketchen Line

DESCRIPTION: Singer describes working on the Wright and Ketchen narrow-gauge lumber railroad, and the characters with whom he works. At the end of the season, he plans to go to Saginaw and spend his money.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work railroading moniker
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 16, "Wright and Ketchen Line" (1 text)
Roud #8865
NOTES: This comes close to being a nonballad, since very little happens in it; after being turned out in the woods, everyone works -- after which the song deviates into character descriptions. - PJS
File: Be016

Write a Letter to Mother

See Come Raise Me in Your Arms, Dear Brother (File: R235)

Write a Letter to My Mother

See Come Raise Me in Your Arms, Dear Brother (File: R235)

Write My Mother I'll Be Home

DESCRIPTION: "There is somewhere the sun is shining, There is somewhere a little rain." The singer asks that a letter tell his mother he'll be home someday. The white folks have him on a chain gang. He asks Stella if he can be her fellow; she has another beau
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: prison home mother courting rejection
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 353, "Write My Mother I'll Be Home" (1 text)
Roud #11731
File: Br3353

Wrong Road, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer takes the "wrong road"; he gets drunk with a man, they quarrel; the singer shoots him. He warns hearers; he is "hanging from a scaffold/Between the earth and sky." He is going home, telling us "You might forget the singer/But don't forget the song"
AUTHOR: probably one of the Hall Brothers
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (recording, Hall Brothers)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer takes the "wrong road" in Alabama; he gets drunk with a man, they quarrel, and the singer shoots him. He warns listeners not to drink or keep bad company, for now he is "hanging from a scaffold/Between the earth and sky." He is going home to glory, having repented, but tells us "You might forget the singer/But don't forget the song"
KEYWORDS: warning fight violence crime murder punishment death drink
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Hall Brothers [Ron & Jay Hugh], "The Wrong Road" (Bluebird 7728, 1938; on RoughWays2)
File: RcTWrRo

Wyandotte's Farewell Song, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer sadly bids farewell to his ancestral home and prepares to head west. Various familiar scenes -- trees, streams, roads, church -- are fondly recalled
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio)
KEYWORDS: nonballad parting travel Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Eddy 117, "The Wyandotte's Farewell Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E117 (Full)
Roud #4342
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Fare Ye Well, Enniskillen (The Inniskillen Dragoon)" (tune)
NOTES: This reminds me strongly of "A Prisoner for Life (I - Farewell to Green Fields and Meadows)" -- while there are no common stanzas, the feeling is quite similar and they can be fit to the same tune. But "A Prisoner for Life" is in triple time, while Eddy transcribes this song in four. So I suppose they're separate. Particularly as this appears to be the song of an American Indian forced to leave home and go across the Mississippi (presumably to a reservation, perhaps in Indian Territory?).
In the song, the singer expresses gratitude to the "white friends, who first taught me to pray." This strikes me as laying it on a bit thick. - RBW
File: E117

Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie, The [Child 290]

DESCRIPTION: A gentleman will give a reward to lie with the lass of the hie toun hie. The hostler's wife lures the girl in and locks the door behind her. The gentleman sleeps with her. Eventually he sees her and her baby, and marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1821
KEYWORDS: seduction sex marriage trick pregnancy children separation reunion love
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Child 290, "The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie" (4 texts)
GreigDuncan7 1499, "The Sly Wife" (1 text)
Roud #125
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dainty Doonby" (plot)
cf. "The Broom of Cowdenknows" [Child 217] (plot)
cf. "The Sleepy Merchant" (plot)
cf. "The Bonnie Parks o' Kilty" (plot)
File: C290

Wyoming Massacre, The

DESCRIPTION: "Kind heaven assist the trembling muse While she attempts to tell Of poor Wyoming's overthrow By savage sons of hell." "One hundred whites in painted hue, Whom Butler there did lead..." offer terms of surrender to the defenders, then slaughter them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) war murder trick lie
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 1, 1778 - The Wyoming Massacre
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 129-131, "(A TRAGICAL ACCOUNT of the battle between the People of Wyoming and the Indians of Westmoreland in the year 1778, in which two hundred of the Americans were unhappily sacrificed to the savage barbarity of some treacherous Americans and cruel savages, in a Poem by a Person then resident near the field of battle)" (1 excerpted text)
NOTES: J. Franklin Jameson, Dictionary of United States History 1492-1895, Puritan Press, 1894, p. 728, describes the Wyoming atrocity this way:
Wyoming Massacre, Pa. In 1776 to Continental companies had been placed in the Wyoming Valley for the protection of the settlers, chiefly Connecticut emigrants. Two years later Major John Butler, commanding a force 800 strong, of Indians, British and Tories, descended upon the valley. July 3, 230 Americans, in six companies, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler, attempted to oppose the british raids. Their unorganized lines fell upon the enemy about four o'clock in the afternoon. The continentals were utterly routed and a brutal massacre followed. Butler could not restrain his indians, who took 227 scalps. Women and children were, however, spared.
The Wyoming Massacre was perhaps the worst incident of savagery in the Revolutionary War, but was not really atypical. The British, trying to fight a war at the end of a very long supply line, naturally tried to rely on locals as much as possible, and that meant Indians.
And the Indians weren't interested in anything in particular except loot, and the easiest way for the Britsh to provide loot was to allow massacres. On the whole, the Indians probably did the British more harm than good -- they were unreliable and often deserted, and frequently proved ineffective in battle, as e.g. in the Saratoga campaign. And they blackened the British reputation among wavering colonials.
The Wyoming massacre goes far to demonstrate why the British suffered in the battle for public opinion. John Butler (?-1794), a loyalist commissioned major, brought a force believed to have numbered in excess of 1000 to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. The only defence was a small, undermanned fort, and Butler induced it to surrender by offering honorable surrender and safety.
Once the gates were opened, Butler ordered a massacre. Accounts of what happened next vary (as they always do in tales of atrocities), but at least two hundred people, and probably many more, died. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Burt130

X Y Z

DESCRIPTION: "Smash! Jemmy, let us buss, we'll off An' see Newcassel Races." They will watch "X Y Z that bonny steed... He's sure to win the Cup, man." Along the way, they encounter many improbable adventures
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: horse racing travel
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 164-166, "X Y Z" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3171
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cameronian Rant" (tune)
File: StoR164

Yaller Gal, The

DESCRIPTION: In praise of the power of the yaller gal: "It takes a long, tall yaller gal To make a preacher lay his Bible down. It takes a long, tall yaller gal To make a bulldog break his chain." "I got a long, tall yaller gal On do road somewhere."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: seduction clergy nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 450, "The Yaller Gal" (2 fragments plus a brief World War I (?) parody about making Germans surrender)
Roud #11784
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Yallow Gal" (theme)
File: Br3450

Yaller Ribbon

See Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (File: Arn149)

Yallow Ribbons, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer will dye his ribbons blue because "the lassie I love she's constant and true," which is why he won't dye them yellow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: love colors nonballad clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 923, "The Yallow Ribbons" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6237
File: GrD4923

Yankee Doodle

DESCRIPTION: Concerning the exploits of a New England backwoodsman who joins Washington's colonial army. He sees many wonders his mind cannot comprehend. He is steadily teased: "Yankee Doodle keep it up, Yankee Doodle dandy...."
AUTHOR: sometimes credited to Dr. Richard Shuckburgh
EARLIEST DATE: 1794
KEYWORDS: war rebellion humorous America
FOUND IN: US(All)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 521-525, "Yankee Doodle" (4 texts, 1 tune, although 1 text is the Confederate version)
Linscott, pp. 115-118, "Virginia Reel" [medley of "The Irish Washerwoman," "The White Cockade," and "Yankee Doodle"] (1 tune for each of the three melodies, plus dance instructions)
Opie-Oxford2 548, "Yankee Doodle came to town" (6 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #109, p. 92, "(Yankee Doodle)"
Arnett, pp. 18-19, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 3-8, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text plus fragments)
Krythe 1, pp. 3-14, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 338-340, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 71, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 292, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 659-660+, "Yankee Doodle"
DT, YANKDOOD*
Roud #4501
RECORDINGS:
Piper's Gap Ramblers, "Yankee Doodle" (OKeh 45185, 1928; rec. 1927)
Pete Seeger, "Yankee Doodle" (on PeteSeeger17) (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 31(146), "Yankee Doodle ("Father and I went down to camp, along with captain Goodwin"), A.W. Auner (Philadelphia), c.1860; also Harding B 31(128), "Yanke Doodle"[not misspelled in the text]
LOCSinging, sb40592b, "Yankee Doodle," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also hc00037b, "Yanke Doodle"[not misspelled in the text]
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Confederate 'Yankee Doodle'"
cf. "The Presidents (The Presidents in Rhyme)" (tune)
cf. "The Battle of the Kegs" (tune)
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (tune)
cf. "Fair and Free Elections" (tune)
cf. "Uncle John is Sick Abed" (tune)
cf. "Mrs. Brown Went to Town" (structure and some words)
SAME TUNE:
Confederate "Yankee Doodle" (File: R249)
The Presidents (The Presidents in Rhyme) (File: R877)
The Battle of the Kegs (File: SBoA077)
Fair and Free Elections (File: FSWB284)
Uncle John Is Sick Abed (File: LIWUJISA)
The Times (Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 144-146)
The Embargo (Darling-NAS, pp. 342-344)
The Preposition Song (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 203)
James K. Polk campaign song: "The Democrats will be triumphant" (see John Siegenthaler, _James K. Polk_, Times Books, 2003, p. 91)
Sir William he, Snug as a flea (broadside lampooning General Sir William Howe's liason with Mrs. Loring) (see Stanley Weintraub, _Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775-1783_, Free Press, 2005, p. 123)
NOTES: There is a reference to "Yankee Doodle" in a comic opera of 1767 ("The Disappointment, or The Force of Credulity" by Andrew Barton), but given the references in the common version to the continental army and "Captain Washington," the piece as commonly sung can hardly predate the Revolutionary War.
Krythe gives an extensive summary of the stories told about the song's origins, including a similar piece of doggerel allegedly dating to the time of Cromwell (died 1658). Most of them must be regarded as folkloric. Similarly Spaeth, in his A History of Popular Music in America, devotes thousands of words (pp.15-21) to the known history and alleged antecedents of the song. The sum, as Spaeth makes abundantly clear, tells us very little. We must confess that we really don't know the history of the song. The Opies bemtion the attribution to Shuckburgh -- and say it is "now discredited."
Laura Ingalls Wilder had a curious version (Little House in the Big Woods, chapter 2) with a chorus I have not seen elsewhere: "And I'll sing Yankee Doodle-de-do, and I'll sing Yankee Doodle" (x2). This portion of the Little House books is fictional (Laura did not live in Wisconsin at the age described), and so we cannot date the song, but it is presumably traditional.
This "Yankee Doodle" is obviously not to be confused with the 1812 song "The Constitution and the Guerriere," sometimes titled "Yankee Doodle Dandy-O." - RBW
I have not listed all the [broadside] variants ("Yankee Doodle No.2," "Yankee Doodle No.3," and others including an "Original Yankee Doodle") You can find them among the Bodleian and LOCSinging collections.
Broadside LOCSinging sb40592b: 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.
Broadsides LOCSinging hc00037b and Bodleian Harding B 31(128) are duplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LxA521

Yankee Doodle Dandy

DESCRIPTION: "I have a daughter and you'd think she was a lady.... She has a sweetheart comes to see her nights... And the only tune he whistles right is 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.'" The young man causes so much trouble that the fathers vows to drive himoff
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: music courting humorous father
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, p. 76, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1 text)
Roud #21717
NOTES: I haven't been able to locate a source for this song, but it certainly sounds as if it originated on stage.
Reading this song, I couldn't help but think of Ulysses S. Grant, who was tone-deaf. He once commented that he knew only two tunes: One was "Yankee Doodle" and the other wasn't. What's more, according to William A. DeGregorio, The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents 1993 edition, Barricade Books, p. 263, the former Julia Dent's parents disapproved of her marriage to Grant. Not quite the same situation as in this song, but you wonder if it didn't kick around in the author's mind a little. - RBW
File: Dean076A

Yankee Doodle Dandy-O

See The Constitution and the Guerriere [Laws A6] (File: LA06)

Yankee Dutchman, The

See Poor Schnapps (File: R218)

Yankee John, Stormalong (Liza Lee)

DESCRIPTION: Pulling shanty. Singer says that Liza Lee promised to marry him. He shipped out but promised her a ring, etc. Now she's jilted him. Remaining verses on general sailing themes. Chorus: "Yan-kee John, Storm-along." Colcord says this is of Negro origin.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor courting separation floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Colcord, p. 60, "Liza Lee" (1 fragment, 1 tune-quoted from Sharp-EFC)
Hugill, pp. 80, "Yankee John, Stormalong" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 74]
Sharp-EFC, XXXVI, p. 41, "Liza Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LIZALEE*
Roud #4698
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Hundred Years Ago" (lyrics)
NOTES: Recognized mostly by its choruses. The lyrics mostly float, with Hugill's version being about half "A Hundred Years Ago." - RBW
File: Hugi080

Yankee Land

DESCRIPTION: A Belfast woman is seduced by "a sailor from a distant port" and said "he'd take me far away to his happy home in Yankee Land." We are left believing he reneges.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: seduction America sailor betrayal
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 96, "Yankee Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: GrMa096

Yankee Man-of-War (I), The

See The British Man-of-War (File: FSC013)

Yankee Man-of-War (II), The

See Paul Jones the Privateer [Laws A3] (File: LA03)

Yankee Man-of-War (III), The

DESCRIPTION: Describes a battle between an unnamed ship captained by John Paul Jones and an (also unnamed) English man-of-war. Jones chases down the man-of-war, catches up at 11 a.m., they fight "yardarm to yardarm" for five hours till the English flag comes down
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: navy ship battle foc's'le
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 180-181, "The Yankee Man-of-War II" (1 text)
Roud #625
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Paul Jones, the Privateer" [Laws A3] (subject of John Paul Jones)
cf. "Paul Jones's Victory" [Laws A4] (subject of John Paul Jones)
NOTES: Harlow listed this along with another "Yankee Man-of-War" (aka "Paul Jones the Privateer" [Laws A3]) though the words and meter is different, and the text clearly describes a different battle. [Roud nonetheless lumps them, probably taking Harlow's word for it. - RBW]
The only battle I could find that might fit what's described here is one that took place on April 24, 1778 when Jones, captaining the Ranger, the captured the HMS Drake off the coast of Ireland. However, that battle actually lasted only an hour or so, not five as this song describes. - SL
Some of this may be due to inaccurate reporting of what Jones said and did. Samuel Eliot Morison's biography John Paul Jones (1959; Time-Life edition printed 1981) repeatedly laments the miserable state of Jones biographies, at one point he accuses a writer of "complete fabrication," adding that this author "found it easier to write Jones's letters himself than use the genuine ones in the Library of Congress." This does not, of course, prove that Morison's biography is accurate (though his reputation is high) -- but it proves that our sources as a whole are unreliable.
For a (largely Morison-derived) biography of Jones, see "Paul Jones's Victory" [Laws A4]. - RBW
File: Harl180

Yankee Manufactures

DESCRIPTION: "I wish I was in Yankee lad, And was a boy again, sirs... I'd never wander from my home... But stay at home, eat pumpkin pie Of Yankee manufacture." The singer boasts of things "of Yankee manufacture:" Pretty girls, George Washington, British defeats
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Songs of Yesterday)
KEYWORDS: bragging patriotic nonballad food
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 17, 1775 - American defeat at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Americans are pushed from their positions, but inflict heavy casualties on the British, and so feel they have earned some bragging rights.
Jan 8, 1815 - Battle of New Orleans. Although a peace had already been signed, word had not yet reached Louisiana, which Pakenham sought to invade. Andrew Jackson's backwoodsmen easily repulse Pakenham
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 535-536, "Yankee Manufactures" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BNEF535

Yankee Retreat, The

DESCRIPTION: "The very next morning we marched very slow" and attacked the Yankees through brush and thorn. "General Averil" tries to encourage the troops, but "Jackson" pushes on
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 1-4, 1863 - Battle of Chancellorsville
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
JHCox 67, "The Yankee Retreat" (1 text)
Roud #5458
NOTES: With only two stanzas to work with, and no actual plot surviving, it's hard to tell what this song is about. Its connection with the Battle of Chancellorsville seems certain, however. In the first stanza, the singer reports "Fighting through briers, fighting through thorn, Such fighting I never saw since I was born."
The above description largely restricts the context to the "Wilderness" battles of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness. (The western battle of Chickamauga was also fought in a forest, but it doesn't fit the generals.) "Stonewall"Jackson was killed at the former (where he led the grand outflanking march which gave the Confederates victory), so it must be the battle involved.
"General Averil" is presumably William Woods Averell (1832-1900), who led a Union cavalry division. His troops had been expected to go on a raid before Chancellorsville, but bad weather held him up. As a result, he was placed in charge of scouting the Union right wing. Averell reported to Union commander Joseph Hooker that the Federal right flank was impassable. Jackson proved Averell wrong, and Hooker relieved him (though, in the grand Union tradition, Averell was reinstated and promoted -- only to be relieved by Sheridan in 1864 for lack of aggressiveness). - RBW
File: JHCox067

Yankee Shore

DESCRIPTION: "As I roved out one morning, being in the lovely month of May," the singer meets a girl. If she'd marry, he would take her to America. Though her father agrees, her parents grieve "when I took her from her parents and land her safe on the Yankee shore"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage emigration beauty sea America Ireland father mother sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 233-234, "Yankee Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6462
File: Pea233

Yankee Tars

DESCRIPTION: Nature has bestowed the U.S. with every possible blessing, including "true Yankee hearts." A Navy is needed to "protect from each insolent foe." Examples of how "Yankee tars shall their country protect." Verses end with Dreadnaught's "derry down" line.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1902 (S. B. Luce's _Naval Songs_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Nature has bestowed the U.S. with every possible blessing, including "true Yankee hearts." A Navy is needed to "protect from each insolent foe." Examples of how "Yankee tars shall their country protect." Verses end with Dreadnaught's "derry down" line. Two verses cite the battle between the Constitution and the Guerriere.
KEYWORDS: navy sailor America
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 189-190, "Yankee Tars" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9167
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Constitution and the Guerriere" [Laws A6] (partial story) and references there
cf. "The Dreadnaught" [Laws D13] (tune)
File: Harl189

Yankees Are Coming, The

DESCRIPTION: "The Yankees are coming! Away! Which way? Who saw them? Do tell us. And what did they?... Fifteen hundred, they say, and they are at Lamar." The people's fear is mentioned, as well as the unionists' entry into the town and their determination
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier derivative
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hudson 124, pp. 264-265, "The Yankees Are Coming" (1 text)
Roud #4503
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Campbells Are Coming" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Campbells Are Coming (File: FSWB281B)
NOTES: The references in this song make the historical situation hard to determine. The only specific names are:
Lamar (place name; there is a Lamar, Mississippi, but also one in Missouri). Both were the sites of small skirmishes: The one in Missouri on August 24 and November 5, 1862, both very small; the one in Mississippi on November 12, 1862 and only slightly larger (it involved the equivalent of a single brigade).
Mitchell (presumably a Confederate soldier, but the Confederacy never had a general of that name; the Union had a General Ormsby M. Mitchel who fought in the west but died 1862)
Grant (Ulysses S. Grant, who commanded at Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign)
Jayhawkers (usually refers to soldiers in Kansas or Missouri)
Vicksburg (the key to Confederate control of the Mississippi)
Pemberton (John C. Pemberton, the commander of the Vickburg garrison).
My best guess is that this refers to Benjamin H. Grierson's Mississippi raid of April 17-May 2, 1863, in which some 1700 soldiers raced from Tennessee to New Orleans, cutting railroads and spreading confusion. This helped Grant get his forced in position for the final attack on Vicksburg. But other possibilities cannot be discounted, especially if (as seems possible, since the song seems to shift between Union and Confederate persepectives) two songs have mixed. - RBW
File: Hud124

Yarmouth Fishermen's Song, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of a tough voyage, with high winds and seas, and few fish. Another ship comes close and cuts their anchor cable; their ropes catch fire. They limp into harbor, but proudly return to sea the next day. Singer toasts the master and crew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (recorded from Harry Cox)
KEYWORDS: fishing sea ship drink sailor worker
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
Roud #2434
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Yarmouth Fishermen's Song" (on LastDays)
NOTES: According to the notes to the Harry Cox recording "What Will Become of England," Cox learned this song, "composed by one of his father's shipmates... from his father. Harry couldn't remember all the verses, however, and complete the song to the best of his ability." - RBW
File: RcTYFS

Yarn of the Nancy Bell, The

See The Fate of the Nancy Bell (File: Harl194)

Yavipai Pete (Old Iron Pants Pete)

DESCRIPTION: Cowboy Yavipai (Iron Pants) Pete is refused a job because he's not tough enough for the job. Pete lassos a bear with barbed wire, rides it back to the ranch (with a rattlesnake for a quirt) and asks whether he can have the job now. The rancher hires him
AUTHOR: Curley Fletcher
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Curley Fletcher, "Songs of the Sage")
LONG DESCRIPTION: Yavipai (Iron Pants) Pete is described, a rough and rowdy but skilled cowboy. Refused a job by a rancher, who says he's not tough enough for the job, he lassos a bear with barbed wire, rides it back to the ranch (with a rattlesnake for a quirt) and asks whether he can have the job now. The rancher hires him, noting that the bear had eaten the range boss the previous night
KEYWORDS: travel clothes death farming work talltale animal boss cowboy
FOUND IN: US(Ro,SW)
RECORDINGS:
Harry Jackson, "Old Iron Pants Pete" (on HJackson1)
NOTES: Jackson reports that this was originally an Arizona song, "Yavipi Pete," but that he and his fellow Wyoming ranch-hands renamed it, "Old Iron Pants Pete" and substituted local place names. - PJS
File: RcOIPP

Yaw, Yaw, Yaw!

See Ja, Ja, Ja! (File: Doe086)

Ye Ballade of Ivan Petrofsky Skevar

See Abdul the Bulbul Emir (I) (File: LxA341)

Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon

See The Banks o' Doon (File: CTbnksbr)

Ye Gae But to Your Beef-Stan'

DESCRIPTION: Cut a slice of meat -- but don't cut your hand -- for Besuthian. "Hogmanay!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: request food begging ritual nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig 161, p. 2, ("Ye gae but to your beef stan'") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan3 643, "Ye Gae But to Your Beef-Stan'" (1 text)
Roud #6076
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Besuthian" (subject) and information there
cf. "Get Up Gudewife" (subject) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Besuthan
NOTES: Greig: "Miss Bell Robertson ... says [the rhyme] was sung by a man who came through Rosehearty begging when her grandmother was a girl, circ. 1775.... After singing the rhyme the man cried "Hogmanay!" - BS
For what little is known of the word "Besuthian," see "Besuthian." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3643

Ye Gentlemen of England (I) [Laws K2]

DESCRIPTION: The singer wishes to remind the nobility of the dangers faced by seamen. He cites his own example. A storm off Ram's Head runs nine English ships aground. The largest ship (the Coronation?) loses almost all her crew, and the others are hardly better off
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1686
KEYWORDS: ship storm sailor
FOUND IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws K2, "Ye Gentlemen of England I"
Flanders/Olney, pp. 193-195, "You Gentlemen of England Fair" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 66, "Ye Gentlemen of England" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 138, "You Gentlemen of England" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 47-49, "When the Stormy Winds Do Blow" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. BBI, ZN3028, "You Gentleman of England, that lives at home at ease"
DT 555, GENENGLF
Roud #1803
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bay of Biscay, Oh" [Laws K3]
cf. "Ye Parliament of England (I)"
cf. "Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold)"
cf. "The Soldier and the Sailor" (theme)
cf. "We Shepherds Are the Best of Men" (stucture and theme:virtue and courage of an occupational group)
File: LK02

Ye Guardian Powers (Nancy Wilson)

DESCRIPTION: "Ye guardian powers that rule above, And know how fondly I do love, God grant to ease my tottering pain...." The girl's love has been banished by his father's command. She grieves and laments his absence at length
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love separation father
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 753, "Ye Guardian Powers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 511-513, "Ye Guardian Powers" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 753A)
Roud #7397
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Bonnie Laddie, But Far Awa (theme: parents drive lover away)
NOTES: Randolph quotes Ozark folklore to the effect that this piece was written by a girl named Nancy Wilson "who committed suicide near Frankfort, Ky., in the early years of the nineteenth century."
One informant gave the story in even more detail: Nancy Wilson, an orphan, was hired by a wealthy family as a servant. The son of the household fell in love with her; the parents disapproved of the match. When he slept with her, they sent him away. She wrote this poem, then hanged herself. He came home for her, and hanged himself when he learned she was dead. Naturally, disasters followed for the family.
One can only suspect that this story is derived from a few dozen other similar ballads, e.g. "The Silver Dagger (I)" [Laws G21] - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R753

Ye Ken Pretty Well What I Mean, O

DESCRIPTION: In an woman's house "you get your fill" with a "bonny servant lassie for to carry it all." A soldier asks for ale and takes the lass to bed. They name their genitals. His plump stallion falls in her well and comes out like "a half-drowned rat"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1707 (_Pills to Purge Melancholy_, v.iii p. 55, according to Farmer)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy servant soldier mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan1 50, "Green Leaves So Green" (3 fragments, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: John Stephen Farmer, editor, Merry Songs and Ballads, Prior to the Year 1800 (1897), Vol I, pp. 192-193, "The Trooper Watering His Nagg"
Roud #3807
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Trooper Watering His Nag" (lyrics, style)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Steggie
NOTES: GreigDuncan1 fragments have none of the bawdy verses. John Mehlberg's immortalia.com site has a text as "Ye Ken Pretty Well What I Mean, O" that - Hamish Henderson reports - Arthur Argo got "from an elderly relative." That text is the basis of the description.
In the Farmer text the old woman "had a Daughter her name was Siss ... She kept her at Home, for to welcome her Guests." "And when Night came unto Bed they went ... It was with the Mother's own consent."
Perhaps Opie-Oxford2 541, "There Was an Old Woman Lived Under a Hill" is just a fragment of this ballad, censored, like the GreigDuncan1 fragments. - BS
I'm tempted to lump this with "The Trooper Watering His Nag" -- the lyric and sly tone are obviously quite close. But Roud and Ben Schwartz both leave them separate, so I am very tentatively doing the same. Editors, however, show enough confusion between the two that you had better check both entries. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1050

Ye Lan's and Banks o' Bonny Montrose

DESCRIPTION: This is the singer's departing night and "the morn's the day I'm gaun awa'" from Montrose. There's "a silly auld man" he'll be glad to leave. Nevertheless he grieves "for the sake o' my kin comerade, And the bonnie lass that I am leavin'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: love emigration parting Scotland
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1529, "Ye Lan's and Banks o' Bonny Montrose" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Roud #12954
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Evening Sun Goes Down the West" (chorus)
cf. "The Parting Glass" (chorus lines)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Guid-nicht and Joy
Oh Once Good-night
NOTES: The chorus is close to the usual first verse of "The Parting Glass" with lines transposed.
Montrose is on the coast between Dundee and Aberdeen. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81529

Ye Landlords of Ireland

DESCRIPTION: The singer goes to America, then returns to Ireland -- to find that his mother had died in poverty. He kills the landlord to avenge her. Once again he flees, but sends a warning to the landlords that revenge is coming
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: poverty rambling murder death poverty revenge landlord
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 224-225, "Ye Landlords of Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA224

Ye Loyal Lovers

DESCRIPTION: A rich farmer's daughter loves Pat Molloy. When her father wouldn't agree to the marriage he enlists. He promises to marry her when he returns. She proves true but he returns married from "India's burning shore." Young maid: Never trust "a rovin' blade"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity marriage promise war separation India father return
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 19, "Ye Loyal Lovers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9232
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Brave Irish Lad" (tune) (OLochlainn-More)
File: OLcM019

Ye Maidens Fair and Gay

DESCRIPTION: "Never let a young man Lead you astray." The singer "believed man's flattering tongue ... He has ruined me ... Nowhere to go ... Now not a straw"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1185, "Ye Maidens Fair and Gay" (1 text)
Roud #6808
NOTES: GreigDuncan6: "Mrs Willox, Peterhead, from her mother -- eighty-six who heard it some seventy years ago." [c.1914] - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61185

Ye Maidens of Ontario

See Maids of Simcoe (Ontario) (File: Doe241)

Ye Mar'ners All

See Ye Mariners All (File: VWL103)

Ye Mariners All

DESCRIPTION: Singer, a sailor, describes the joys of booze and urges all to share them.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1838
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 103, "Ye Mar'ners All" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MARNERSA*
Roud #1191
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A Jug of This
File: VWL103

Ye Needna Ban at Me, Guidman

DESCRIPTION: "Ye needna ban [curse] at me, guidman," she says, come in and rock the cradle and take your meal ("kail and brose" yourself) because, you know, I'm not able. I'll sell pots, pans and wooden ladles if you won't buy a side saddle for me.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness children wife food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #149, p. 2, ("Ye needna ban at me, guidman") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan8 1912, "Ye Needna Ban at Me, Guidman" (1 fragment)
Roud #13558
File: GrD81912

Ye Needna Come an' Flatter's

DESCRIPTION: "For ye needna come and flatter's For ye shan't come again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 809, "Ye Needna Come an' Flatter's" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #5652
NOTES: GreigDuncan4 quoting Duncan: "A fragment, the chorus. It is a woman that is speaking, but the drift forgotten" - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4808

Ye Noble Big Pine Tree

DESCRIPTION: A conversation between a singer and a majestic pine. The singer admits the tree's ancient dignity, but tells it of how the loggers will attack it and take it down, then goes on to the fate of the wood
AUTHOR: William T. Allen (Shan T. Boy)
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: work logger
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Rickaby 12, "Ye Noble Big Pine Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Rick062 (Partial)
NOTES: Rickaby concedes that this piece, by the author of "The Banks of the Little Eau Pleine" [Laws C2] and "The Shanty Boy on the Big Eau Claire" [Laws C11] is probably not traditional, but includes it as a sample of Allen's work.
Most of Allen's work has a quirky side, and this is no exception, with lines such as "Your fall will sound like distant thunder, And fill the birds and squirrels with wonder...." "But seeing you're so sound and healthy, You'll make some lumberman more wealthy." But it seems more serious than most of his work. The tune is listed as "Will the Weaver." - RBW
File: Rick062

Ye Parliament of England (I)

DESCRIPTION: The Americans present their claims against England: First limiting trade, then impressing American sailors, then insulting American captains. The Americans of course have gone to war, and mention their naval victories
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1836 (American Songster, according to Gray)
KEYWORDS: navy patriotic war
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1812-1815 - War of 1812
Aug 19, 1812 - the 44-gun U.S.S. _Constitution_ defeats and captures the 38-gun H.M.S. _Guerriere_ in the north Atlantic
Oct 18, 1812 - sloop U.S.S. _Wasp_ engaged with sloop H.M.S. _Frolic_ off North America; _Frolic_ is rescued by the arrival of the British ship of the line _Poictiers,_ which captures the _Wasp_
Oct 25, 1812 - the 44-gun U. S. S. _United States,_ commanded by Stephen Decatur, defeats the 38-gun H. M. S. _Macedonian_ in the mid-Atlantic
Dec 29, 1812 - U. S. S. _Constitution_ defeats the 38-gun H. M. S. _Java_ off Bahia, Brazil
Feb 24, 1813 - U. S. S. _Hornet_ defeats H. M. S. _Peacock_
Sep 5, 1813 - U. S. S. _Enterprise_, defeats H. M. S. _Boxer_
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Gray, pp. 151-166, "You Parliament of England" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 195-196, "Ye Parliament of England" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 278-279, "Ye Parliaments of England" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 158-160, "Ye Parliament of England" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 128-130, "Ye Parliament of England" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PARLENG*
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 308, "Ye Parliament of England" (1 text)
Roger F. Duncan, _Coastal Maine: A Maritime History_, 1992; Countryman Press paperback edition 2002, pp. 277-279, "(no title)" (1 text, apparently collected from Nelson Poland of Maine in 1932)
Roud #2078
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Gentlemen of England (I)" [Laws K2]
cf. "Charge the Can Cheerily" (theme, ships)
NOTES: This ballad correctly identifies the American complaints that led to the War of 1812: restrictions on trade and the pressing of American seamen. It also highlights several small victories of the American navy (but ignores assorted American defeats, as well as the fact that many American ships, including the United States, were forced to stay in port for most of the war due to British blockade. The American fleet, composed of nothing larger than a frigate, in fact had no ability to challenge the British fleet of ships of the line).
Based on the events recounted, it would appear that this piece began life as a broadside in late 1812 or early 1813 (this based on the fact that it mentions the Essex positively; the Essex beat the Albert in 1812 but was defeated by Phoebe and Cherub in 1814; see Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812, pp. 156-157); it is possible that later versions added additional battles.
Many of the battles mentioned have their own songs. See "The Constitution and the Guerriere" [Laws A6] and "The Constitution and the Guerriere (II)" for the battle between those ships. "The Hornet and the Peacock" gives details on that battle. "Enterprise and Boxer" describes the battle of those two vessels. For the Battle of Lake Erie, see "James Bird" [Laws A5]. And for the whole rather pointless naval war, see "Charge the Can Cheerily."
Lest it be thought the Americans had it all their own way, see, e.g. "The Chesapeake and the Shannon (I)" [Laws J20], "The Chesapeake and the Shannon (II)" [Laws J21], "The Chesapeake and the Shannon (II)" [Laws J21]. The honest truth is, the British won the War of 1812 at sea, in much the same way they would win the Battle of Jutland a century later: They took more losses in the naval campaigns of 1812-1815, but by the end of the war, they had the American navy completely bottled up in port, unable to inflict any more damage.
The version printed by Duncan in Coastal Maine is apparently from the same source as the Shay text, and includes a half stanza which Shay omitted. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FO195

Ye Parliaments of England

See Ye Parliament of England (I) (File: FO195)

Ye Sons of Australia

DESCRIPTION: "Ye sons of Australia, forget not the brave, And gather wildflowers to place on their graves. They were four daring outlaws...." In praise of the Kelly gang. It mentions the hunt for them, and how Kelly's sister Kate warned them. The ending is implied
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (recording, Phil Shirley)
KEYWORDS: Australia outlaw death burial
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 99-100, "Ye Sons of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 68-69, "Ye Sons of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5475
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kelly Gang" (subject)
cf. "Kelly Song (Farewell Dan and Edward Kelly)" (subject)
cf. "Kelly Was Their Captain" (subject)
cf. "My Name is Edward Kelly" (subject)
cf. "Ballad of the Kelly Gang" (subject)
cf. "Stringybark Creek" (subject)
cf. "The Kelly Gang Were Strong" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Kate Kelly's Song
File: MA099

Ye Sons of Columbia

See Fuller and Warren [Laws F16] (File: LF16)

Ye Sons of Old Ireland

DESCRIPTION: "Ye sons of old Ireland, I'm sorry to hear, There is no money stirring this present new year." The gentry no longer eat "turtle and wine ... Their bellies that swelled with Napoleon's renown Will grow flat like old air-bags since Boney is down"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Joyce's _Old Irish Folk Music and Songs_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: war commerce nonballad political Napoleon hardtimes food
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 198, "Ye Sons of Old Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "Times were good during the Napoleonic era as the war effort generated massive demand for goods and services in Ireland. An economic slump ensued after Napoleon's defeat as the war machine was wound down and armies were demobilized."[An interesting contrast to the situation presented in songs such as "The Troubles." From what I've read, Irish industry didn't benefit all that much, but the army did help soak up some of the vast surplus population -- for a while. - RBW] This is like the lines from "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon": "Napoleon he was a friend to heroes, both young and old, He caus'd the money for to fly wherever he did go." Here also is the main theme of "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose": "Come stir up the wars, and our trade will be flourishing."
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, "You Sons of Old Ireland" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
File: Moyl198

Ye Wanton Young Women

DESCRIPTION: Young men "chase about at weman's heels." After twenty weeks the singer "grew pale and wan." After 40 weeks she "brought home a son" to be named after the father; "I'll gang nae mair a rovin among the merry maids." The baby dies. "I'll go again a rovin'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: sex childbirth death rake
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1478, "Ye Wanton Young Women" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #7180
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A-Rovin'" (theme, chorus lines)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I'll Gang Nae Mair a Rovin
File: GrD71478

Ye'll Fa' Bonnie Geordie

DESCRIPTION: She says "ye'll fa' [fall] bonnie Geordie." He turned around, kissed her and says "Na bonnie Annie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting dialog
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1865, "Ye'll Fa' Bonnie Geordie" (1 short text)
Roud #13586
File: GrD81865

Ye're Noo on Bogieside

DESCRIPTION: "Assist me, all ye muses, For to compose a song, 'Tis of a tyrant farmer Near Gartly did belong." The farmer continually demands more effort for small reward, reminding the staff "Ye're noo on Bogieside." The singer looks forward to the day he is free
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes farming
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 359, "Ye're Now on Bogieside" (1 text)
Ord, p. 281, "Ye're Noo on Bogieside" (1 text)
Roud #5600
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bogieside
File: Ord281

Ye're Now on Bogieside

See Ye're Noo on Bogieside (File: Ord281)

Ye's Lie Neist the Wa'

DESCRIPTION: "The day o' Duncan's marriage it was a day o' rain, I took 'er on ahin me, and vow but I was fain, I took the leem [loom] rod in my han' a scabbit beast to ca, And we's baith lie in ae bed, and ye's lie neist the wa'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: wedding sex abduction
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 913, "Ye's Lie Neist the Wa'" (1 fragment)
Roud #6243
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 fragment. - BS
A first person variant of "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" [Child 46]? - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4913

Ye've a' heard tell o' the wife o' Gateside

See The Wife o' Gateside (File: GrD2207)

Yea Ho, Little Fish

DESCRIPTION: From the sailor to the fish: "Yea ho, little fish, don't cry, don't cry; Yea ho, little fish, you'll be a whale by and by." The singer talks of the voyage, of how the fish try to avoid capture, and of the love whose picture is "tattooed all over my chest"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953
KEYWORDS: fishing sea
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 119-120, 133, "The Little Fish" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Manifold-PASB, p. 5, "The Little Fish" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, YEAFISH
Roud #5477
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Farewell, Little Fishes" (on PeteSeeger30)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Song of the Fishes (Blow Ye Winds Westerly)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Meredith and Anderson claim that this song is probably Portugese; their only basis for this, however, is the vague recollection of one of their informants. - RBW
File: MA119

Year of Jubalo, The

See Kingdom Coming (The Year of Jubilo) (File: R230)

Year of Jubilo, The

See Kingdom Coming (The Year of Jubilo) (File: R230)

Year of Seventy One, The

DESCRIPTION: New Years 1971. Bob Mack and Mickey ride Bob's tractor to Mass but it will not pass "Maggie's" where Bob always stops for a drink. Then, drunk, he drives into a ditch, losing Mickey to the road. Mickey swears he'll not ride in the tractor for a while.
AUTHOR: Jim McGonigle (source: McBride)
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 71, "The Year of Seventy One" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: McB1071

Yellow Bittern, The

See An Buinnean Bui (File: HHH830)

Yellow Gal

See My Yallow Gal (File: LxA245)

Yellow Gals

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

Yellow Gals (Doodle Let Me Go)

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Refrain: "Doodle let me go girls, doodle let me go, Hooraw my yaller girls, doodle let me go." Verses have dancing/drinking themes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty drink dancing
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hugill, pp. 380-381, "Doodle Let Me Go" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 288-289]
Sharp-EFC, VIII, p. 9, "Do Let Me Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DOODLEGO
Roud #3221
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Do Let Me Go, Gels
NOTES: I've heard these lyrics sung, almost verbatim, as part of the "Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go)" family. But as that is an immigration song, and this is about sailing conditions, I am separating them while noting that they do seem to cross-fertilize. - RBW
File: Hugi380

Yellow Handkerchief, The (Flash Company)

DESCRIPTION: Singer once loved a young girl who wore a yellow handkerchief. Unfortunately, he kept "flash company", and he is now ruined and destitute; "Like a flower in the garden all my color has gone."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Gardiner coll.)
KEYWORDS: disease love clothes lover floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 360, "The Yellow Handkerchief" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 32, "The Yellow Handkerchief" (1 text, 1 tune); also 58, "The False-Hearted Lover" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FLASHCMP* (FALSHART*)
Roud #954
RECORDINGS:
Phoebe Smith, "Yellow Handkerchief" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4190), "Flash Company" ("First I loved William, and then I loved John"), Thomas Smith (?), n.d
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, No, Not I" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: MacColl and Seeger, for some inexplicable reason, identify their fragement-of-a-fragment with Laws O 37 ("Mary on the Silvery Tide"). Their version is clearly not a unity, but since it has the chorus and form of this song (and the other bits and pieces are too small to identify), here it files.
Including their text "The False-Hearted Lover" is even more of a stretch, but it consists of one verse certainly from this song, one that seems unique, and four floaters; where else do you file it? - RBW
File: K360

Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go)

DESCRIPTION: The Irish adventurer comes to Mr. Tapscott, seeking passage to America. Tapscott arranges for (his) voyage, (charging an exorbitant price and) leaving the young Irishman to be plundered on the voyage. The youth vows to stay on the American shore
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870
KEYWORDS: sailor emigration robbery
FOUND IN: US(MA) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 61-64, "Heave Away" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the last is "Heave Away, Me Johnnies")
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 73-74, "We're All Bound to Go" (1 text)
Hugill, pp. 298-301, "Lay Me Down," "Across the Western Ocean," "The Irish Emigrant", "Heave Away" (4 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 222-224]
O'Conor, p. 56, "Yellow Meal" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 407, "Heave Away" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragment of a shanty which could go here, or with "Heave Away, Me Johnnies," or perhaps somewhere else)
SHenry H827, pp. 100-101, "Yellow Meal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 98, "We're All Away to Sea" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 485-486, "Heave Away" (1 fragmentary text, recognized by the chorus line and perhaps only slightly related, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 325, "Heave Away" (1 text -- a fragment of a shanty which could go here, or with "Heave Away, Me Johnnies," or perhaps somewhere else)
DT, YELLMEAL*
Roud #15778
RECORDINGS:
Richard Maitland, "Heave Away" (AFS, 1939; on LC26)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Heave Away, Me Johnnies" (tune, meter, chorus)
cf. "Down in the Coal Mine" (part of tune)
cf. "Yellow Gals (Doodle Let Me Go)" (lyrics)
NOTES: The brothers William and James Tapscott (the former based in Britain and the latter in New York) ran a business arranging passage from Britain to America. (Often this involved shipping a girl from Ireland to meet her love, who had already gone to America.) As their clients were often completely ignorant, they frequently were able to make a very tidy profit indeed.
The "Yellow Meal" (pronounced "Yellow Male") versions of the text seem to have been adapted from a stage version.
Sam Henry has circumstantial details of the voyage of the Joshua A. Walker, mentioned in his text. Many versions, however, omit references to this ship. - RBW
File: Doe062

Yellow Rose of Taegu, The

DESCRIPTION: A reluctant soldier meets the Yellow Rose of Taegu, a good two-dollar whore, who makes him forget the perils of war.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex soldier whore derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray, pp. 410-412, "The Yellow Rose of Taegu" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, YLLOWTX4*
Roud #10405
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yellow Rose of Texas" (tune)
File: EM410

Yellow Rose of Texas, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer is going to see his "Yellow Rose" -- "The sweetest rose of color this (darkey) ever knew; Her eyes are bright as diamonds; They sparkle like the dew." He promises that "if I ever find her, we never more will part."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858
KEYWORDS: love courting separation reunion
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (9 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 253-257, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 28-29, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 20-21, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
Hugill, p. 561, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 272, "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" (1 text)
JHCox 128, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 661+, "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
DT, YELLOWTX*
ADDITIONAL: Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), p. 4, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (text, music and reference to Decca F-2872 recorded Feb 24, 1932)
ST RJ19253 (Full)
Roud #2800
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Melotone M-12700/Vocalion 5498/Conqueror 8096 [as Gene Autry & Jimmy Long], 1933; OKeh 04998, 1939)
Milton Brown & his Musical Brownies, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Decca 5273, 1936)
DaCosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Gennett 6143, 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Yellow Rose of Texas" [instrumental] (on NLCR07)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(748), "The Yellow Rose of Texas", H. De Marsan (New York, N.Y.), 1864-1878
LOCSinging, sb40591b, "The Yellow Rose of Texas", H. De Marsan (New York, N.Y.), 1864-1878; also cw106920, "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Yellow Rose of Taegu" (tune)
cf. "The Bouncing Girl in Fogo" (theme, lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
The Yellow Rose of Taegu (File: EM410)
Song of the Texas Rangers (NOT Laws A8; War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy, pp. 175-176)
NOTES: Extremely popular with Southern troops in the Civil War, and frequently parodied, the first known publication of this piece occurred in 1858 (published by William A. Pond). That version appears to be a minstrel piece; in it, both lovers are "darkeys." The only attribution is to "J.K.," who was and still remains unknown.
It is interesting that, in the Civil War, the troops often sang, "She's the sweetest rose of color this SOLDIER (or, later, FELLOW) ever knew." This would hardly have been acceptable to the Southern gentry; it was miscegenation. - RBW
James "Sparky" Rucker places this song in the period of the Mexican War [properly, the Texas rebellion - RBW, with thanks to Cirk R. Bejnar], stating that the "Yellow Rose" was Santa Anna's mulatto (American) girlfriend, who stole his battle plans before the battle of San Jacinto and delivered them to the American army. - PJS
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40591b and Bodleian Harding B 18(748): 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
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40591b and Bodleian Harding B 18(748) are duplicates.
The date and master id (GB-4029-2) for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
File: RJ19253

Yeo Heave Ho!

DESCRIPTION: Capstan shanty. "Yeo heave ho! Round th' capstan go. Heave, men, with a will. Tramp an' tramp it still. The Anchor must be weighed (x2). Yeo heave ho! Yeo heave ho!" Similarly, "Yeo heave ho, cheerily we go." "...Raise her from below"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 (L.A. Smith, _Music of the Waters_)
KEYWORDS: shanty ship
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 318-319, "Yeo Heave Ho!" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 240]
Roud #13269
NOTES: Given its inclusion in "Music of the Waters" and, according to Hugill, its form and tune, this may be one of the earliest examples of a capstan shanty, and may also be the sing-out referred to in Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. - SL
File: Hugi318

Yew-Pine Mountains, The

See Swannanoah Tunnel (File: CW166)

Yim Yonson

DESCRIPTION: "Yim Yonson ship from lumberyard Upon the scow Sam Patch." He knows nothing of boats, but pretends to be a sailor. In a storm, the captain orders him to reef a sail. Yonson answers, "Der ben ten tousand tops'ls, yes, But only one Yim Yonson." He is fired
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (collected from S. C. Jacobson by Walton)
KEYWORDS: sailor ship storm humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, p. 166, "Yim Yonson (The Scow Sam Patch)" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wreck of the Julie Plante" (tune).
File: WGM166

Yo Ho Ho

See Dead Man's Chest (File: LxA512)

Yo Ho, Yo Ho

DESCRIPTION: In this formula song, the singer tells of placing his hand successively on a woman's toe, knee, thigh, etc., and the results of his quest.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: The type appears in 1661, in Merry Drollery, as "There Were Three Birds"; then in the 1838 chapbook The Fancy! A Fanciful Collection of Fancy, Flash, and Amatory Songs as "Billy Go Leary"
KEYWORDS: bawdy seduction sex
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(Ap,So,SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray, pp. 318-323, "Yo Ho, Yo Ho" (1 text, 1 tune plus 1 text for "Billy Go Leary")
Thomas-Makin', p. 31, (no title) (1 short text, which might or might not be this, but it is suggestive that it breaks off just as the sailor promises to tell a tale)
Roud #5586
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There Were Three Birds"
cf. "Drive It On"
cf. "Gently, Johnny, My Jingalo" (Cecil Sharp's rewrite)
cf. "He Kept A-Kissin' On"
cf. "He Gave Her Kisses One"
cf. "How Ashamed I Was"
cf. "A-Rovin'"
cf. "The Girl in Portland Street" (plot, theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Laid My Hand upon Her Knee
NOTES: This song, as old as any in the English-language canon, survives in multiple variants sung to a variety of melodies. - EC
It appears Roud lumps this with "Gentry Johnny My Jingalo." That song has been so heavily redacted by Sharp that I can't lump them despite their, um, points of contact. - RBW
File: EM318

Yodelings of Champion Raftsmen

See The Crying Family (Imaginary Trouble) (File: Wa062)

Yon Ball, Bonnie Lassie's Been the Ruin o' Me

DESCRIPTION: "Kissin a' the bonnie lads, and makin' fun sae free, Yon ball, bonnie lassie's been the ruin o' me"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1406, "Yon Ball, Bonnie Lassie's Been the Ruin o' Me" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7258
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan7 fragment.
GreigDuncan7: "December 1907. As sung by an old man at Kemnay in 1859." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71406

Yon Bonnie Lad

DESCRIPTION: The singer would not have a minister (has many books), lawyer (many crooks), tailor (though he is neat) or miller (dusty clothes), but "I'll hae yon bonnie, yon bonnie, yon bonnie lad"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: courting love rejection nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 996, "Yon Bonnie Lad" (1 text)
Roud #6736
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Not Marry at All" (theme)
cf. "Soldier Boy for Me" (theme)
cf. "The Bonnie Mason Laddie" (theme)
cf. "The Plooman Laddie" (theme)
cf. "The Tailor He's Been Seekin' Me" (theme)
File: GrD5996

Yon Green Vallee

See Yon Green Valley (File: K168)

Yon Green Valley

DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of a young man who courted her and swore he'd be true; for 11 months he was, but then left. She reminds him of his promise, but he must obey his "father's counsel." She recommends the single life, for "a contented mind bears no slavery."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting love sex marriage promise warning farewell abandonment baby lover oldmaid floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Hebr)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1183, "Yon Green Valley" (1 text)
Kennedy 168, "Yon Green Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 86-87, "Yon Green Valley" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 51, "Yon Green Vallee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 72, "Green Valley (The First Young Man Came A-Courting Me)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOBOUND
Roud #2125
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "Green Valley" (on MRMHare01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rambleaway" (plot)
cf. "Must I Go Bound" (lyrics)
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (lyrics)
File: K168

Yon Town, Bonnie Lassie

DESCRIPTION: The singer says if he had the bonnie lass he likes he'd have no reason to return to that town. If he had her on the bridal seat in church there he'd have no reason to return. Once his "errand" were finished he'd never return.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love wedding nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 941, "Yon Town, Bonnie Lassie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6757
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Fat'll Mak a Bonny Lassie Blythe an' Glad?" (tune, per GreigDuncan5) and references there
File: GrD5941

Yon' Come Roberta

See The Midnight Special (File: R292)

Yonder Come Day

DESCRIPTION: Short phrases punctuated by the phrase "Yonder come day," with chorus "Yonder come day, day done broke, now, in my soul." Examples: "Yonder come day, I heard him say (x3)"; "It's a dying day"; "It's a burying day" ; "I was on my knees"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scott-BoA, pp. 321-323, "Yonder Come Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: SBoA321

Yonder Comes a Courteous Knight

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

Yonder Comes a Georgia Girl

DESCRIPTION: "Yonder comes a Georgia girl, Don't she look funny? She's got on a roundabout Without a cent of money." "Once I could have married you, Once I could my honey, When you wore your roundabout With a pocket full of money."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: clothes money courting
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 83, "Yonder Comes a Georgia Girl" (1 text)
Roud #7884
File: Br3083

Yonder Comes My Pretty Little Girl

See The Roving Gambler [Laws H4] (File: LH04)

Yonder Comes the Devil

DESCRIPTION: The Devil, with his pitchfork and shovel, tries to dig up potatoes in the turnpike road. "And the road was so hard and he couldn't get 'em up. So yonder run the Devil with his tail cocked up" The Devil may call in his family, who also struggle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1973 (recording, Joe Jones)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad nonsense talltale Devil food
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Roy Palmer, _The Folklore of Warwickshire_, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976, p. 72 (an untitled 8-line fragment)
RECORDINGS:
Joe Jones, "Yonder Comes the Devil" (on Voice14)
File: RcYCtDev

Yonder Comes the High Sheriff

DESCRIPTION: "Yonder comes the high sheriff ridin' after me, Ridin' after me, yes, ridin' after me. Yonder comes... O it's captain, I don't want to go." "Been down to Frankfort servin' out my time...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg; recording, Ollis Martin)
KEYWORDS: prison police
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 213, "Yonder Comes the High Sheriff" (1 short text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Ollis Martin, "Police and High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down" (Gennett 6306, 1928; rec. 1927; on StuffDreams1)
Poplin Family, "Goin' Back to Sumter" (on Poplin01)
NOTES: "Gotta Travel On" became enormously popular in the 1950s-1960s folk revival, to the point where it was a parodied cliche; the song was always credited to Paul Clayton. This song, though, is clearly its source. Ollis Martin's recording seems to have been made only a few weeks before Sandburg's book was published. - PJS
File: San213

Yonder Goes My Nora

DESCRIPTION: "Yon'er goes my Nora, gittin' drunk ergin (x2), Oh, Miss Sudie! She's got good booty, Di'mon' rings and fine clo'es too, But dat Nigger ain't gonna get Nothin' from me. Oh, dat woman can't friss me. Yon'er goes my Nora, gittin' drunk ergin."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: drink love clothes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 214, (no title, but filed with the "Shine Reel") (1 short text)
File: ScNF214A

Yonder Hill There Is a Widow

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

Yonder Mountain

See Pretty Saro (File: R744)

Yorkshire Bite, The

See The Crafty Farmer [Child 283; Laws L1] (File: C283)

Yorkshire Boy, The

See The Crafty Farmer [Child 283; Laws L1] (File: C283)

Yorkshireman in London, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer arrives in London and offers to see a girl home. When they arrive at a whorehouse he tries to leave. She picks his pocket but he had put fish-hooks there and they strip her finger of her ring. He sells the ring.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3202))
KEYWORDS: ring theft trick humorous whore
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan2 298, "The Yorkshireman in London" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #1640
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3202), "Quite Politely" ("When first in Lunnun I arriv'd"), J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 28(69), "When First in Lunnon I Arriv'd"; 2806 c.16(290), Harding B 25(2123), "Yorkshireman in London"; Harding B 28(280), "The Yorkshire man in Lunnon"; Johnson Ballads 963, Douce Ballads 4(57), Harding B 16(216c), Harding B 16(284c), Harding B 36(10) View 2 of 2, Harding B 11(62), Harding B 11(63), Harding B 11(1237), Harding B 11(3033), Harding B 11(3034), Harding B 11(3035), Harding B 11(3274), "Quite Politely"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
When First in London
The Rigs of London
NOTES: The major theme here is of the not-so-simple country bumpkin. The listener, like the whore, is fooled. The singer, we think, is taken in, "'midst heavy rain and thunder," by the whore by "a dismal tale, how she was scar'd wi' thunder." When they arrive at her door "twenty lasses, aye, or more, Came out to have a better gloat, at bumpkin, as they call'd me" while other "folks cried poor lad he's undone." There must be other songs with this theme but none come to mind. - BS
There are quite a few on the general theme. "The Zebra Dun" [Laws B16] is about a cowboy who knows more than he appears to. The "Biter Bit" theme is common, found e.g. in "The Baffled Knight" [Child #112]. Australia and New Zealand have several songs about immigrants who refuse to be fooled by the locals. I can't think of anything involving this trick with a ring, or indeed outwitting a prostitute. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD2298

You and I, Lovie

DESCRIPTION: "You and I, lovie, you and I, You and I to sinder, There couldna be a greater cross Than you and I to sinder"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1146, "You and I, Lovie" (1 fragment, 1 tune plus a variant on p. 556)
Roud #6822
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lass o' Benachie" (tune, per GreigDuncan6)
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan6 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61146

You Are False, But I'll Forgive You

See Forget You I Never May (File: R737)

You Better Love the Methodist

DESCRIPTION: "You better love the Methodist -- You go'n to die; You better love the Methodist -- You go'n to die; You don't know the day nor the hour. You better love the Methodist -- You go'n to die." Repeat with other denominations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Henry, from "a group of Negro singers at Montreat, North Carolina)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad death
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 194, "You Better Love the Methodist" (1 text)
NOTES: Henry's notes say "This is an endless song in which any word may be substitutes for Methodist...." However, the only other word he cites is "Baptist." An interesting point, as these were probably the two strongest denominations in the south in the period when this song was sung. I wonder if they would have mentioned, say, Catholics.... - RBW
File: MHAp194

You Boys O' Callieburn

DESCRIPTION: America has "wiled" the boys of Callieburn to leave adored Machrihanish and their parents behind. Rab MacKinlay has already gone. The boys know their parents will grieve but won't disown them. The boys are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (recording, Willie Scot)
KEYWORDS: emigration parting America moniker nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord))
Roud #6932
RECORDINGS:
Willie Scot, "You Boys O' Callieburn" (on Voice04)
NOTES: Callieburn and Machrihanish are on the Kintyre peninsula, Argyllshire, Scotland. - BS
File: RcYBoCal

You Broken-Hearted Heroes

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

You Cain't Lose-A Me, Cholly

DESCRIPTION: Mild nonsense. The singer visits Willie Winston's to court. He reports "rowin' and my gal went through" and they break the bottom of the boat. He cannot afford the girl, "She use up a bale of money ev'y week." Ends with a hog and sheep talking
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936
KEYWORDS: animal courting nonballad nonsense
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 264, "You Cain't Lose-A Me, Cholly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 214, (no title) (1 fragment, ending "You can't lose me, Charlie")
Shellans, pp. 50-51, "Charlie You Can't Lose-a Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11658
NOTES: This is one of those pieces that can drive a folklorist crazy. The chorus is distinctive enough (despite the variant of Charlie/Cholly) as to be characteristic, but it's less clear what the song is about. The description is from Lomax, who of course could have fiddled with the piece -- or Lead Belly could have done so. The version in Shellans is different, about a man who goes to town and can't rid himself of a "yaller gal," but the Shellans text is from John Daniel Vass, who was happy to fiddle with texts. The song probably needs a detailed study to determine its actual origins and original content. - RBW
File: LoF264

You Call Me Dog, I Don't Care

DESCRIPTION: "You call me dog, I don' ker, Oh, my Lord! You call me dog, I don' ker, Oh, rockum jubalee!" "You call me cat, I don' ker...." "You call me mule...." "You call me snake...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal accusation
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 190, "You Call Me Dog, I Don' Ker" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: ScNF190A

You Can Dig My Grave

See Dig My Grave with a Silver Spade (File: FSWB351A)

You Can Run a Long Time

DESCRIPTION: The singer warns against disobeying God "You can run a long time... But your sins are going to find you out." He condemns the people around him, warns of various sins, accuses the listener of insufficient zeal, and otherwise makes an ass of himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious warning
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 66, "You Can Run a Long Time" (1 text)
Roud #7868
File: Br3066

You Can't Come Again

See The Rejected Lover [Laws P10] (File: LP10)

You Can't Hurry God

DESCRIPTION: The singer advises prayer, hope, and patience in times of trouble: "You can't hurry God, why don't you wait, my brother? Just obey the word you have heard. Keep on calling him, for in some day or 'nother, He will come and answer prayer."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 172, "You Can't Hurry God" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa172 (Partial)
Roud #7489
File: Wa172

You Can't Keep a Shantyboy Down

DESCRIPTION: "Kind friends, your attention I'll ask for a while, A few facts I endeavor to show...." The singer notes that the workers are what prop up the building of society; the wealthy have money, but aren't really needed, but "You can't keep a shantyboy downs."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work drink money
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #62, "You Can't Keep a Shantyboy Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4464
NOTES: From the description, you might think this political. I don't think it is. It's just a sneer on the rich: They have money, but we don't need them, and where would they be without us? - RBW
File: FowL62

You Canna Put It on to Sandy

DESCRIPTION: Sandy knows he's taken to be simple but in every case he is shown to be more clever than "anither fella." "I'm not sae green as you may seem, Did you think I'm soft as candy? ... you canna put it on to Sandy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recorded by Willie Kemp, according to Hall, notes to Voice07)
LONG DESCRIPTION: A chap comments on Sandy's red hair; Sandy offers him some to seed his own bald scalp. Sandy is watching ducks at a farm; a hunter offers him a pound for a shot at one of the ducks; Sandy takes the money; the hunter's shotgun kills 21 ducks and he apologizes; Sandy says he can shoot again because the ducks aren't his. Sandy leaves a play after act one because the programme says act two is a year later. Sandy gets along well with his wife; he takes no offense when he finds a man in bed with his wife; he says he plays the same game with that man's wife.
KEYWORDS: adultery hair farming hunting humorous nonballad bird wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
Roud #5143
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "You Canna Put It on to Sandy" (on Voice07)
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice07: "'You Canna Put It on to Sandy' has the series of episodal verses associated with songs from the variety theatre, but was probably put together by Willie Kemp, the entertainer from Oldmeldrum, who recorded it in 1930." - BS
File: RcYCPIOS

You Caused Me to Lose My Mind

See In the Pines (File: LoF290)

You Fair and Pretty Ladies

See Fair and Tender Ladies (File: R073)

You Fight On

DESCRIPTION: "If your brother done you wrong, Take him to yourself alone; Tell him brother you done treated me wrong. You fight on, you fight on, with your sword in your hand, You fight on, yes, you fight on, Lawdy you fight on...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: brother religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, pp. 248-249, "You Fight On" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This appears to me to be based -- very loosely -- on Matt. 18:15: "If a brother sins [against you], bring it to his attention when the two of you are alone."
Note: the words "against you" are omitted by the two oldest manuscripts. - RBW
File: San248

You Girls of Equal Station

DESCRIPTION: The singer asks "all you girls of equal station" for comfort for her sorrow "because I loved a lad." Though he promised to be true "to another girl he roved ... he has married for gold" Warning: "do not your mind reveal So that you can bid them farewell"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: infidelity love promise money nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #97, pp. 1-2, "Ye Girls of Equal Station" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1184, "Ye Girls of Equal Station" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Roud #5410
File: GrD61184

You Got To Cross It For Yourself

See Lonesome Valley (I) (File: Wa162)

You Got to Move

DESCRIPTION: "You got to move (x2)... When God gets ready, you've got to move." In one form, "That preacher's got to move!" "That drunkard's got... " "I got..." Whether high or low, policeman or prostitute, when the Lord gets ready, "you got to move"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (recording, Two Gospel Keys)
KEYWORDS: warning nonballad religious whore clergy police gods
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE)
Roud #16194
RECORDINGS:
Rev. Gary Davis, "You Got to Move" (on GaryDavis02)
Brother Claude Ely, "You Got to Move" (King 1282, 1953)
Morning Star Hall Singers, "You Got to Move" (on SeaIslFF1)
Two Gospel Keys, "You've Got to Move" (Solo 10-007, 1946; on Babylon)
File: RcYGtoMo

You Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around

See The Hound Dog Song (File: R512)

You Know Very Well What I Mean

See The Trooper Watering His Nag (File: RL044)

You Lovers All

DESCRIPTION: The girl recalls how her father's anger "drove my love away" to North America. She steals 500 pounds from her father to buy passage across the seas. She does not know where to look, but by chance finds her love quickly; they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation father emigration marriage reunion
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H525, p. 483, "You Lovers All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1910
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Father's Servant Boy" [Laws M11] (plot)
cf. "Mullinabrone" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
North America
The Flowers of Enniskillen
NOTES: This song is very similar to "My Father's Servant Boy," the only substantial difference between the two being that, in this song, the girl and boy sail for America separately. Even the first few words are the same. "Lumpers" would undoubtedly list them as the same song (so, e.g., Roud).
The Index, however, follows a "splitting" policy. My personal suspicion, in any case, is that "My Father's Servant Boy" is the older song, and was rewritten as a broadside to produce this. (Note the presence of a broadside version in Wright.) The kinship could, of course, be the other way -- both look like broadsides, without much softening by tradition. But "My Father's Servant Boy" seems to be slightly more widespread, giving it a slightly greater chance of being original. - RBW
File: HHH525

You Lovers All, to You I Call

DESCRIPTION: "You lovers all, to you I call. A story I will tell; How I, a swain, courted in vain A maid none could excel." "I fell in love so hard to move... But to my grief found no relief, for she was pitiless." The singer praises his love's great beauty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love beauty rejection
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 293, "You Lovers All, to You I Call" (1 text)
Roud #12200
File: Br3293

You Might Easy Know a Doffer

DESCRIPTION: "You might easy know a doffer" by her yellow hair and tools. Besides, "she'll always get a man." "You might easy know a weaver" by her greasy hair and tools. Besides, "she'll never get a man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Hammond-Belfast)
KEYWORDS: sex bragging hair weaving humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Leyden 13, "You Might Easy Know a Doffer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hammond-Belfast, p. 23, "You Might Easy Know a Doffer" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, EASYDOFF*
NOTES: Leyden: "Machines were used in the spinning room to spin linen yarn onto empty bobbins on a frame. When they were full the doffers had to "doff" or remove the bobbins and replace them with empty ones."(p. 62) "The song reflects the animosity which existed between doffers and weavers and expresses the doffers' point of view. The tools of the doffer were pickers, a scraper, hackle pins and whistle; these were tied around here waist on a piece of string."(p. 59, p. 175 for more details) - BS
In this case, the doffers probably had a point; theirs was the newer, faster, cheaper technology; the old methods of wearing were dying out. And a weaver would thus be more likely to lose her job, making her a less desirable prospect. - RBW
File: Leyd013

You Must Be Pure and Holy

DESCRIPTION: "When I was wicked and a-prone to sin, My Lord, brethren, ah my Lord, I thought I couldn't be born again." "You must be pure and holy (x3) To see God feed his lambs." "I'll run all 'round the cross and cry... Give me Jesus or I die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 107, "You Must Be Pure and Holy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12063
NOTES: The number of theologically questionable statements in the first few verses of this song is rather astounding. As Paul says in Romans 5:8, Christ died "while we were still sinners," and the apostle confesses to having been the chief of sinners. As for the King James mistranslation "born again," which should have been rendered "born from above," see the notes to "Reborn Again."
Apart from those not-so-trivial details, of course, the advice to live as well as one can is certainly good. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG107

You Must Live Holy

DESCRIPTION: "There's fathers and mothers all over the land, They're chewing and dipping as fast as they can... You must live holy and free from sin If you aim to get to glory and enter in...." Listeners are told how to live and told to read the Bible
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 643, "You Must Live Holy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7566
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (theme) and references there
NOTES: Almost half of Randolph's text is devoted to the way women dress -- "with their hair bobbed off and their dresses to their knees." It seems clear that this version, at least, originated in the 1920s.
One wonders what the author would think of the styles of the late twentieth century. - RBW
File: R643

You Never Miss the Water till the Well Runs Dry

DESCRIPTION: The singer remembers mother's lessons about economy: "Waste not, want not is the maxim I would teach... Do not let your chances like sunbeams pass you by, For you never miss the water...." Now married, he teaches his children the same lesson
AUTHOR: Rowland Howard
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 (The Song Wave)
KEYWORDS: youth money
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 125-126, "You Never Miss the Water till the Well Runs Dry" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WASTENOT
ADDITIONAL: H. S. Perkins, H, J. Danforth, and E. V. DeGraff, _The Song Wave_, American Book Company, 1882, pp. 140-141, "You Never Miss the Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5457
RECORDINGS:
Claude Sweet & Roy Davidson, "You'll Never Miss the Water" (Acme 1165, n.d.)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Waste Not, Want Not
File: SRW125

You Parliament of England

See Ye Parliament of England (I) (File: FO195)

You Pretty Girls of Michigan

DESCRIPTION: "You pretty girls of Michigan, give ear to what I write, Of sailing on the stormy Lakes, in which we take delight." The sailors work while "Irishmen and the landlubbers" stay home. The singer urges girls to attend to sailors, who live such hard lives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (collected by Walton from Pat Banner and A. E. Baker)
KEYWORDS: sailor courting
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 101-103, "You Pretty Girls of Michigan" (1 text, presumably composite, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of Newfoundland (I)" [Laws K25] (form)
File: WGM101

You Rambling Boys of Pleasure (Down by Sally's Garden)

DESCRIPTION: "You rambling boys of pleasure, give ear to those few lines I write. Although I'm a rover, and in roving I take great delight." Singer recounts finding and losing his love, and laments that his roving ways are incompatible with love and home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: rambling love homesickness
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 79-81, "The Rambling Boys of Pleasure" (1 text)
OBoyle 22, "Rambling Boys of Pleasure" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 59, "Down by Sally's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 47, "Rambling Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 52, "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #386
RECORDINGS:

BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(250b), "Rambling Boys of Pleasure," J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 11(3222), Harding B 25(1596), Firth b.25(189), Harding B 16(219c), Harding B 15(250a), Firth c.18(237), Firth c.18(238), 2806 c.16(193), Firth c.18(235), Harding B 11(34), Harding B 16(220b), Harding B 20(22), Firth c.26(259), Harding B 28(144), "[The] Rambling Boys of Pleasure"; Johnson Ballads 614, Firth b.25(315), "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure"
LOCSinging, sb40467b, "Rambling Boys of Pleasure," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Down by the Sally Gardens" (lyrics)
NOTES: There are several examples of this in the Bodleian Library Broadsides Collection, dating from 1802 to 1892. Beginning around 1850 an additional verse began appearing going more or less like." "It was down by the salley gardens...." It is very likely this is the "half-remembered" verse that Yeats used to write "Down by the Sally Gardens." - SL
O'Boyle says that the "down in Sally's Garden" lines are in the first verse of the 1784 American manuscript in the Baker Memorial Library at Hanover, New Hampshire.
Of the Bodleian broadsides, "The Rambling Lover," Harding B 11(3222) c.1850, 2806 c.16(193) c.1850: include the line "Down by yon valley gardens."
Firth c.18(237) n.d., Firth c.18(238) 1850-1899: include the line "Down by yon sally garden."
Harding B 15(250a) 1858-1861, Firth c.18(238) 1850-1899, Harding B 11(34) n.d., Firth c.26(259) n.d.: include the line "It was down by Sally's gardens."
A closely related broadside, Bodleian, Firth c.18(234), "The Rambling Lover" ("Come all you gay and merry friends and stay with me while I do write"), unknown, n.d. includes the line "It was down by a flowery garden."
The one to compare to Yeats' is an unrelated broadside, Bodleian, Harding B 22(262), "Sally's Garden" ("It was down in Sally's garden"), unknown, n.d. It may be the same ballad as the illegible Bodleian, Harding B 25(1724), J.Jennings (London), 1790-1840. - BS
File: FowM059

You Ribbonmen of Ireland

DESCRIPTION: Ribbonmen: "Long may you reign May you roll in joy and splendour Till you raise your flag again." The singer recalls taking the Orange drum at Segimore. The Protestant "hates our religion and our ways" and curses any man that goes to church.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (IRRCinnamond01)
KEYWORDS: Ireland political religious
FOUND IN: Ireland
ST RcYRiMoI (Full)
Roud #3081
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "You Ribbonmen of Ireland" (on IRRCinnamond01)
NOTES: Supporting the Orange position is "beating the Orange drum"; taking the Orange drum then has figurative as well as literal meaning.
I was helped through Cinnamond's text by Lew Becker and John Moulden. The description is based on John Moulden's transcription from IRRCinnamond02 included in the Traditional Ballad Index Supplement. - BS
File: RcYRiMoI

You Say You Are of Noble Race

DESCRIPTION: "You say you are of noble race And I of low degree. We are all of Adam's race; Pray, what more can we be?" Reportedly, the girl turns down the boy because her status is higher than his
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 59, "You Say You Are of Noble Race" (1 fragment)
Roud #7844
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, No, Not I" (theme)
File: Br3059

You Shall Be Free (I)

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

You Shall Be Free (II)

See Ain't No Use Workin' So Hard (File: DarNS329)

You Shall Have a Horse to Ride

See All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)

You Stole My Pard

See Old Betty Larkin (Betsy Larkin, You Stole My Pard, Steal Partners, Stole My Partner) (File: R586)

You Talk About Your Greenbacks

DESCRIPTION: "You talk about your greenbacks being dollar bills, But you ought to see the Natchez when she passes Louisville." (Someone) talks about girls and how they make a living; the singer prepares to jump ship and his girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: river abandonment
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, p. 119, "You Talk About Yo' Greenbacks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10051
File: MWhee119

You Wonder Why I'm a Hobo (Naw, I Don't Want to Be Rich)

DESCRIPTION: A list of reasons why the hobo doesn't want to be a conductor, a banker, a broker, a doctor, adding up to this: "I just don't want to be rich" (or to have to work).
AUTHOR: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recordings, Carson Robison)
KEYWORDS: hobo money work questions
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 461, "You Wonder Why I'm a Hobo" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Carson J. Robison, "You Wonder Why I'm a Hobo" (Columbia 15547-D [issued under the pseudonym, "Travelin' Jim Smith" as well as perhaps under Robison's own name], 1930) (Champion 15986 [as, "Naw! I Don't Wanta Be Rich"]/Supertone 9672, 1930) (Broadway 8274/Crown 3084 [both as Carson Robison Trio], 1931). (Victor V-40226, 1930) (Brunswick 442, 1930) (OKeh 45537 [as, "Naw! I Don't Wanna Be Rich"], 1931; rec. 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Who Said I Was a Bum?" (subject, attitude)
NOTES: I've also seen this credited to Mac McClintock. The attribution to Robison seems more likely, though; I suspect "Haywire Mac" merely recorded the piece and someone assumed he wrote it. - RBW
File: BRaF461

You, You, You (Somewhere Somebody's Waiting)

DESCRIPTION: "Somewhere somebody's waiting for you, Somewhere somebody's heart is true, Sometime you'll love somebody who'll love you true, Somewhere somebody's waiting for you, you, you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 276, "You, You, You" (1 fragment)
Roud #16176
File: Br3276

You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

DESCRIPTION: Singer, now feeble, tells his sweetheart she'll miss him when he's gone. He asks who will care for her. He tells her to fence their garden; the children are married. Ch.: "You'll miss me when I'm gone...There's one kind heart will miss me when I'm gone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Oaks Family)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, aging and becoming feeble, tells his sweetheart she'll miss him when he's gone. He asks what she will do in wintertime, who will put their arms about her, who will share her sadness and gladness. He tells her to fence their little garden and tend the flowers; the children are all married. Ch.: "You'll miss me when I'm gone...There's one kind heart will miss me when I'm gone"
KEYWORDS: grief loneliness love marriage death family husband wife age
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
Roud #17225
RECORDINGS:
Oaks Family, "You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone" (Bluebird B-5807, 1935; rec. 1930; on KMM)
NOTES: In 1878 Hart Pease Danks and Arthur W. French published a song called, "You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone." This is not that song. - PJS
File: RcYMMWIG

You're a Little Too Small

DESCRIPTION: Even very small girls won't consider the singer, saying "you're young I know, perhaps you may grow, At present you're a little too small." When he inherits a million and the girls call him he refuses because "at present I'm a little too small"
AUTHOR: Al Haynes (source: Meade, Spottswood and Meade)
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (publication date, according to Meade, Spottswood and Meade)
KEYWORDS: courting bequest money humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 48, "A Little Too Small" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4349
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Tar Heels, "You're a Little Too Small" (Victor V40007, 1928)
NOTES: The description follows the McBride text. The Carolina Tarheels recording has the singer getting closer to marriage, without succeeding, but omits the inheritance.
Meade, Spottswood and Meade: Country Music Sources by Guthrie T Meade Jr with Dick Spottswood and Douglas S. Meade (Chapel Hill, 2002), p. 445. They also cite Haun, Mildred, Cooke County [Tennesee?] Ballads and Songs (M.A. Thesis, Vanderbilt U., Nashville, Tenn., 1937)], p.431. - BS
File: McB1048

You're As Welcome as the Flowers in May

See As Welcome as the Flowers in May (File: R856)

You're from the Nation

DESCRIPTION: "You're from the Nation, an I'm from Arkansas, But I got the Battle Axe, an' I know you want a chaw." "It sure is good terbacker, we chaw it all the time, I'm goin' to buy some Battle Axe if I ever get a dime."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: travel drugs nonballad hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 585, "You're from the Nation" (1 text)
Roud #7671
NOTES: Randolph explains that Battle Axe is a brand of chewing tobacco. - RBW
File: R585

You're the Man That Stole My Wife

DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "You're the man that stole my wife (x3), You shouldn't have 'er for to save your life."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: husband wife nonballad betrayal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 172, "You're the Man That Stole My Wife" (1 text)
Roud #6582
File: BrII172

You're Welcome as the Flowers in May

DESCRIPTION: The singer accuses Katie of calling him a rogue to her mother. He demonstrates this by stealing a kiss and trying to steal her heart. She calls that no theft; he is "welcome as the flowers in May." She says that they will marry if her mother consents
AUTHOR: J. E. Carpenter (per O'Conor)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: love courting flowers marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H804, pp. 262-263, "You're Welcome as the Flowers in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 152, "You're Welcome as Flowers in May" (1 text)
Roud #6917
NOTES: Despite the similarity in titles (perhaps inspired by a common saying), this appears to have no relationship at all with the Randolph song "As Welcome as the Flowers in May."
Dan J. Sullivan in 1902 published a song "You're As Welcome As the Flowers In May"; I don't know which of the two traditional songs of that title, if either, it represents. - RBW
File: HHH804

You're Welcome To Me

See My Generous Lover (File: RcMGL)

You've Got to Be a Lover of the Lord

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, you've got to be a lover of the Lord (x3) Or you won't get to heaven when you die."
AUTHOR: Charles Wesley [and William Cowper]/ music: R. H. Reeves
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Sacred Harp hymnal)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 654, "You've Got to Be a Lover of the Lord" (1 fragment)
Roud #7577
RECORDINGS:
Huggins & Phillips Sacred Harp Singers, "Lover of the Lord" (Vocalion 5273, rec. 1928; on Babylon)
NOTES: The Huggins & Phillips Sacred Harp Singers recording adds a verse of Cowper's "Oh, For a Closer Walk with God" to the song, probably to fill out the time on the record. - PJS
File: R654

You've Got to Put on Airs

See Putting on Airs (File: R460)

You've Got Your Big Gun, and I've Got Mine

DESCRIPTION: "You've got your big gun, and I've got mine. Just rap on the cartridge if you don't mind dying."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 501, "You've Got Your Big Gun, and I've Got Mine" (1 fragment)
Roud #11805
File: Br3501

Youghall Harbour

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a beautiful girl as he walks toward Youghall. He asks a kiss; she refuses, explaining that her former lover has driven her from Youghall. She will have no more to do with men. He says his intentions are honorable
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor); the "Answers to Youghall Harbour" date to before 1825
KEYWORDS: courting beauty rejection
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H503, p. 273, "Youghall Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 95, "Yougall Harbor" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 198-199, "Youghall Harbour" (1 text, listed as a translation by Samuel Ferguson)
Roud #2734
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Answer to Youghal Harbour"
cf. "Foot and Mouth Disease" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Youghal Harbour
Yougal Harbour
NOTES: The versions of Youghall Harbour are so varied that I think they should be considered at least two ballads. [Though Roud lumps them. - RBW] Examples of "the other Youghall Harbors":
OLochlainn 8 and Bodleian, Harding B 28(20), "Answer to Youghall Harbour," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(2180), 2806 b.9(227), 2806 b.11(205), Harding B 25(2128), Firth b.27(11/12) View 1 of 2 [partly illegible], 2806 c.15(163), 2806 c.15(17), 2806 b.11(204), Harding B 19(3), "Youghal Harbour" ("As I roved out on a summer's morning") in which Nancy/Mary of Cappoquin has the singer's baby ["A darling baby for you I am rearing"] and is deserted by him twice. [This is in the Index as "Answer to Youghal Harbour."]
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2126), "Answer to Youghall Harbour," Angus (Newcastle), 1774-1825 in which the singer considers leaving "the fair maid of Caperqueen" at the altar;
Bodleian, Harding B 28(20), "Youghall Harbour" ("In Youghall harbour, on a summer's morning"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(4287), "Youghall Harbour" in which the singer is led to the altar and is sometimes exposed as a rake. This may just be an extension of "Answer to Youghall Harbour." - BS
File: HHH503

Youghall Harbour (II)

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl like "the Queen of May." He seduces her after going "to a director" when she insists on "performance." But he values "neither Priest nor Deacon nor yet yon fair maid of Capperquin" and gains "the maiden flower of this silly female"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(20))
KEYWORDS: seduction virginity rake
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #2734
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Youghal Harbour" (on IRRCinnamond03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(20), "Youghall Harbour" ("In Youghall harbour, on a summer's morning"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(4287), "Youghall Harbour"
NOTES: Listening to a traditional version on IRRCinnamond03, which is very close to broadside Bodleian Harding B 28(20) "Youghall Harbour," finally convinced me that this should be yet another "Youghall Hartbour" ballad (linked, as it is, by Roud to two others). This seems a much more likely prequel than "Youghall Harbour(I)" to "Answer to Youghal Harbour"; note that Armstrong printed both "Youghall Harbour (II)" and "Answer to Youghall Harbour" on the same sheet. - BS
File: RcYoHa02

Young Airly

DESCRIPTION: Lochiel and Airly ride away with Charlie. Argyle then rides to "glent to heav'n I' the dwelling o' young Airly." Lochiel mistakes the glow for sunrise but Ogilvie realizes Airly is burning. He mourns "mither and twa sweet babies" lost and curses Argyle.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Cromek)
KEYWORDS: feud murder fire
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hogg2 75, "Young Airly" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: R. H. Cromek, Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, (London, 1810), pp. 195-197, "Young Airly"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie House o Airlie" [Child 199] (subject and tune)
NOTES: "Lochiel" may refer to Alan Cameron (c. 1567-c. 1647) or Ewen Cameron (1629-1719), the 15th and 16th clan chiefs respectively (see "Cameron2" at Stirnet Genealogy site).
Hogg2 of both "Young Airly" texts: "Trusting to a note in Cromek's Collection [Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song], I never doubted that this was a song of 1745, and reserved it for this volume, and even for this latter division of it. I find, however, in searching for the event to which it relates, that it is the very oldest Scots song in the collection, being one of 1640."
Hogg2 has two ballads for this title. Hogg2 76 is Child 199. Hogg2 75 shares the tune and subject with Hogg2 76, but no lines with that text or any of Child's.
"Cromek died [1812] shortly after the issue [1810] of Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, which was mostly written by Cunningham, though palmed upon Cromek as recovered antiques." (source: J. Ross, The Book of Scottish Poems: Ancient and Modern, (Edinburgh, Edinburgh Publishing Co, 1878), "Allan Cunningham 1784-1842," p. 738; other sources agree)
Cromek: "'Young Airlie' was eldest son to Ogilvie, Earl of Airlie, and with his father's vassals joined Prince Charles. He married a daughter of Johnstone of Westerhall in Annandale -- a lady of characteristic courage who followed her lord through all the dangers and troubles of war. In the hasty march through Dumfries a confidential friend wished Lady Ogilvie to return to her father's from the uncertain tumult of rebellion. 'O! Mary (said she) Charlie's the righteous heir! Wha wadna gang wi' Charlie!' Young Lord Airlie escaped to France after the battle of Culloden." This is apparently the note Hogg referred to. Compare Cromek's comments with the references for "The Bonnie House o Airlie [Child 199]." - BS
My instinct, and Cromek's, and evidently Hogg's, was to refer this to the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie, due to the reference to Charles and the fact that Lochiel was Charlie's most important supporter. But we should note that, in 1640, the king was Charles I, who was fighting (and would eventually lose) the English Civil War. And his son was Charles II, who would not be restored until 1660. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Hogg2075

Young Airly (II)

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

Young Alanthia

See Lamkin [Child 93] (File: C093)

Young Alban and Amandy

See Olban (Alban) or The White Captive [Laws H15] (File: LH15)

Young Allan [Child 245]

DESCRIPTION: In a drunken gathering, Allan boasts of the speed of his ship. Challenged, he takes part in a race and is caught in a storm. Allan calls on a "bonny boy" to steer the ship (with offers of reward), then begs the ship to rescue him. Somehow, all survive
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Skene ms.)
KEYWORDS: ship storm gambling escape
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Child 245, "Young Allan" (5 texts)
Bronson 245, "Young Allan" (16 versions)
Greig #63, p. 1, "Young Allan" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 326, "Young Allan" (17 texts, 16 tunes) {A=Bronson's #13, B=#12, C=#11, D=#5, G=#10, H=#3, I=#8, J=#7, K=#4,L=#6, M=#14, N=#16, O=#15, for R cf. #2}
Ord, pp. 320-322, "Young Allan" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 608-611, "Young Allan" (1 text)
DBuchan 58, "Young Allan" (1 text)
DT 245, YNGALAN* YNGALAN2*
Roud #242
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Patrick Spens" [Child 58] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Sailors o' Merrily Den
Miraladen
The Sailors and the Merry-go-round
The Sea Captains
NOTES: Child sees analogies between this ballad and mythical vessels which sailed at the will of their masters (e.g. the Phæacian ships in Odyssey viii.557 or the Scandinavian Elliða). Given, however, the sorry state of the versions in Child, one may doubt how much of this is tradition and how much simply confusion. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: C245

Young Alvin

DESCRIPTION: Alvin loves Melanie. He takes two horses to her father's house in Earl's Court. The chambermaid tells him that Melanie will be married the next day to Lord Farthington to satisfy her father's debt. They duel. Alvin wins and elopes with Melanie.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1974 (recording, Packie Manus Byrne)
KEYWORDS: courting elopement death fight father nobility
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #2988
RECORDINGS:
Packie Manus Byrne, "Young Alvin" (on Voice17)
NOTES: Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 17" - 15.9.02: "According to both R S Thomson and Frank Purslow (personal correspondence) versions of 'Young Alvin' appeared in late 18th-century chapbooks, although I [Mike Yates?] have not, so far, come across one."
Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Reviews - Volume 17" by Rod Stradling - 7.11.98: "Packie Byrne sings 'Young Alvin,' which I've never been entirely certain isn't a fake -- it certainly doesn't sound as if it's passed through many hands in the aural transmission process." - BS
I think I agree. "Alvin and Melanie?" Sounds like a sixties sitcom. And they'd have to elope a *long* way to avoid punishment for killing a lord. Some google searching seems to reveal that there is a literary original back there somewhere, though all the allusions were too oblique to actually cite (so much for finding everything on the Internet). - RBW
File: RcYoAlvi

Young and Growing

See A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)

Young and Single Sailor, The

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

Young Andrew [Child 48]

DESCRIPTION: Andrew woos a lady. He bids her to steal her father's money for their wedding. She brings the money; he takes her clothes and sends her home naked. Her father refuses to let her in without the gold; she dies. (Her brothers hunt Andrew down.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1750 (Percy ms.)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Andrew woos a lady. They have sex. He bids her to steal her father's money for their wedding. She brings the money; he takes her clothes for his own lady and sends her home naked. Her father refuses to let her in without the gold; she dies. (Her brothers hunt Andrew down, break his bones, and leave him to be eaten alive by a wolf.)
KEYWORDS: courting theft family abandonment infidelity greed hardheartedness sex betrayal manhunt revenge death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Child 48, "Young Andrew" (1 text)
OBB 59, "Young Andrew" (1 text)
Roud #6740
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" [Child 9] (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Death of Young Andrew
NOTES: Child refers to similar ballads in Poland. - PJS
File: C048

Young Astronomer's Gaze, A

DESCRIPTION: "As I gaze in the starry heaven of blue, I see Orion and his neighbrs two; And of all the fixed stars... I see only a few, And none are very new, But as old as time is old." Saturn and its rings are mentioned, as well as the animals in the constellations
AUTHOR: George Mefford Bell?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', p. 256, "A Young Astronomer's Gaze" (1 text)
File: ThBa256A

Young Barbour

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

Young Barnswell

See Sarah Barnwell (File: GrD2218)

Young Barnwell

See Sarah Barnwell (File: GrD2218)

Young Bearwell [Child 302]

DESCRIPTION: Young Bearwell and the mayor's daughter are in love. She learns that false rumors are spread about him, and gives him a ship to flee in. He comes to a foreign court. She grows lonely, and sends for him; her messenger learns of his success abroad
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: love courting lie exile ship sea separation loneliness
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Child 302, "Young Bearwell" (1 text)
DBuchan 39, "Young Bearwell" (1 text)
DT 302, YNGBEARW
Roud #3935
File: C302

Young Beichan [Child 53]

DESCRIPTION: A young lord is taken prisoner by a foreign king. The king's daughter frees him after receiving a promise that he will wed her in seven years. Seven years later she comes to England to see him being married. When he sees her, he marries her instead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1783 (Jamieson-Brown)
KEYWORDS: wedding marriage promise courting prison escape
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England) US(Ap,MW,NE,NW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)Ireland
REFERENCES (53 citations):
Child 53, "Young Beichan" (14 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #94}
Bronson 53, "Young Beichan" (113 versions plus 9 in addenda)
Dixon I, pp. 1-10, "Young Bondwell" (1 text)
Greig #78, pp. 1-2, "Young Beichan" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan5 1023, "Lord Brechin" (13 texts, 14 tunes)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 106-122, "Lord Bateman" (5 texts, all very full, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #8, #87}
Randolph 11, "Lord Bateman" (4 texts plus a fragment, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #3, C=#44, E=#7}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 25-28, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 11E) {Bronson's #7}
Eddy 10, "Young Beichan" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 49, "Lord Bateman's Castle" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #80}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 204-208, "Lord Bakeman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 54-57, "Lord Bakeman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 9-69, "Young Beichan" (19 texts plus 6 fragments, 8 tunes; a few of the versions combine multiple collections from family members or have other complex histories) {F=Bronson's #1, H=#11}
Davis-Ballads 12, "Young Beichan" (7 texts plus 2 fragments; the fragments, especially "I," might perhaps be "The Turkish Lady"; 2 tunes entitled "Lord Bateman and the Turkish Lady, or The Turkish Lady," "The Turkish Lady"; 3 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #55, #47}
Davis-More 16, pp. 102-110, "Young Beichan" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 14, "Young Beichan" (5 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Chappell-FSRA 7, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #35}
Hudson 8, pp. 75-76, "Young Beichan" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 210-213, "Young Beichan" (1 text, with local title "The Jailer's Daughter"; 1 tune on pp. 410-411) {Bronson's # 39}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 26-34, "Young Beichan" (4 texts plus 1 fragment, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #64, #3, #13}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 7-8, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 7, "Lord Ateman" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 210-213, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 7, "Lord Bateman" (2 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #101}
Mackenzie 5, "Lord Bakeman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22}; "Lord Bateman" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lehr/Best 68, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Leach, pp. 169-174, "Young Beichan" (2 texts)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 58, "Lord Batesman, or the Turkish Lady" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #98}
Friedman, p. 128, "Young Beichan (Lord Bateman)" (1 text)
OBB 44, "Young Bekie"; 45, "Young Beichan"; 164, "The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman" (3 texts)
Warner 43, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 13 "Young Beichan" (7 texts plus 5 fragments, of which"D" and "L" in particular may be "The Turkish Lady"; 12 tunes){Bronson's #36, #99, #10, #107, #106, #110, #14, #57, #42, #41, #102, #68}
Sharp-100E 6, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 22, "Young Beichan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 256-259+356-357, "Young Beichan" (1 text)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 10, "Lord Bateman (Young Beichan)" (1 text, 1 tune, slightly edited) {Bronson's #14}
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 276-277, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 100-102, "[Turkish Lady]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 22-23, "The Turkish Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 41, "Young Beichan (Lord Bateman)" (1 text)
DBuchan 7, "Young Bicham"; 8, "Young Bekie" (2 texts, 1 tune in appendix) {Bronson's #112}
MacSeegTrav 8, "Young Beichan" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
TBB 2, "Young Beichan" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 84-86, "Young Bicham" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 101-103, "Lord Bateman" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H470, p. 491, "Lord Beichan" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 14, pp. 33-36, "Lord Bayham" (1 text)
JHCox 8, "Young Beichan" (3 text plus mention of 1 more)
JHCoxIIA, #7A-C, pp. 22-31, "A Turkish Lady," "Turkish Lady," "Lord Wetram" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #54, #53, #93}
Darling-NAS, pp. 67-69, "Lord Bateman" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 212, "Lord Bateman" (1 text)
DT 53, LORDBATE* LRDBEICH* (The DT editors also list TURKLADY* as Child 53, but it belongs with Laws O26)
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 147, "Lord Bateman" (reproduction of a broadside page containing this and "I'll Dream of Thee No More")
Roud #40
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best, "Lord Bateman" (on NFABest01)
Ollie Gilbert, "Lord Batesman" (on LomaxCD1707)
Roby Monroe Hick, "Young Beham" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Lord Bateman" (AFS; on LC57)
Willie Mathieson, "The King's Daughter" (on FSBBAL1)
Pleaz Mobley, "Lord Bateman" (AFS L 12, 1937; on LC12) {Bronson's #97}
Thomas Moran, "Lord Bateman" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Lord Bateman" (on NLCR14)
John Reilly, "Lord Baker" (on Voice17)
Balis Ritchie, "Lord Bateman and the Turkish Lady" (on Ritchie03)
Jean Ritchie, "Lord Bateman" (on JRitchie01)
Jeannie Robertson, "Lord Bateman" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
David Slaunwhite, "Lord Bateman" (on MRHCreighton)
Mary Sullivan, "Lloyd Bateman" (AFS; on LC57)
Joseph Taylor, "Lord Bateman" (cylinder, on HiddenE) {Bronson's #34}
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(174), "Lord Bateman," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also 2806 c.16(213), Harding B 11(2196), Firth c.21(10), Johnson Ballads 1687, Firth c.21(28), Firth b.25(164), Harding B 11(2198), Harding B 25(1140), Johnson Ballads 549[some words illegible], Harding B 11(2199), Harding B 11(2200), Firth b.25(93), "Lord Bateman"; Harding B 17(170b), Harding B 26(379), "Lord Beigham"
LOCSinging, as100980 [incomplete], "Lord Bakeman," unknown, 19C
Murray, Mu23-y1:030, "Lord Beigham," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(136a), "Lord Beigham," unknown, c. 1820
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Turkish Lady" [Laws O26]
cf. "The Araby Maid" (subject)
cf. "Mustang Gray (The Maid of Monterey)" (plot)
cf. "Thomas o Yonderdale" [Child 253] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lord Beham
Susan Price
Lord Batesman
Lord Akeman
NOTES: This song is commonly connected with the story of Gilbert Becket, the father of Thomas (the clerical adversary of England's Henry II). But, although the song's widespread currency implies that it is old, it is unlikely that it is that old.
Child believed that it may have been affected by the Becket legend, but was probably independent.
The plot very much resembles "The Turkish Lady" [Laws O26], and some scholars lump them, but the latter emphasizes the conversion of the princess rather than, as in this song, her pursuit and reunion.
It is interesting to note that, according to the tranlation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight made by James L. Rosenberg and edited with introduction by James L. Kreuzer (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1959, p. LII, the "love interests [in the crusading romances] were frequently unintentionally humorous: the Saracen princesses in literature were almost as aggressive in their behavior as the knights they aided."
Albert C. Baugh, �Convention and Individuality in Middle English Romance,� printed in Jerome Mandel and Bruce A. Rosenberg, editors, Medieval Literature and Folklore Studies, Rutgers, 1970, commenting on the romance "Bevis of Hampton": "[The Saracen Emperor] Ermin's daughter Josian, after the manner of Saracen pricesses in romance, falls in love with the hero, especially after he has successfully defended her against a king named Brademond who has come to marry her, by force if necessary."
In "Bevis," in fact, the girl and the guy are reunited after seven years, just as in this ballad -- although, in the romance, it is she, not he, who is married to another -- involuntarily, in this case, but she maintains her virginity magically while he spends seven years in Brademond's custody. After many further adventures, they die in each others' arms.
A minor footnote: In the Scottish "Young Beichan" texts, the Turkish girl is typically called "Susan (Susie) Pye," with no obvious derivation that I can see. In the more numerous "Lord Bateman" texts, however, she is usually "Sophia." But "Sophia" (Greek for "wisdom") is not a Turkish name. Perhaps the girl had more reasons than love for wanting to escape. One might even speculate that she had (or that some singer intended her to have) a Christian mother. Or that she would rather marry an infidel than live in a harem.
And, yes, that's an awfully long chain of inference to hang on one name.... - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C053

Young Bekie

See Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)

Young Benjie [Child 86]

DESCRIPTION: Benjie quarrels with his lover, who vows to seek another. He drowns her. During the night watch over the corpse [lykewake] she reveals to her three brothers who killed her. They ask whether they should behead or hang him. She bids them put out his eyes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: lover corpse funeral brother injury revenge ghost
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 86, "Young Benjie" (2 texts)
Bronson 86, "Young Benjie" (1 version)
BarryEckstormSmyth p. 453, "Young Benjie" (notes only)
Leach, pp. 280-283, "Young Benjie" (1 text)
OBB 91, "Young Benjie" (1 text)
DT 81, YNGBENJI*
Roud #3911
File: C086

Young Bicham

See Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)

Young Billy Crane

DESCRIPTION: The singer, "Nellie Harrison," is betrayed by "Cubit's" arrow and a handsome young man named Billy Crane. She describes how he courted her then went to sea. She declares she will dress in men's clothes and follow her love
AUTHOR: Larry Gorman
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: courting betrayal separation lament cross-dressing travel
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Doerflinger, pp. 259-260, "Young Billy Crane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4164
NOTES: Said to have been inspired by real people, though the names have been changed. The original Nellie Harrison is said to have remained single her whole life.
This song is item dH46 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Doe259

Young Bung-'er-eye

See Quare Bungo Rye (File: Log416)

Young Butcher Boy

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

Young Chambers

DESCRIPTION: Chambers's boat, smuggling liquor from St Pierre, is attacked and boarded by the crew of the Lady Clover. The crew are taken to Harbour Breton, tried, and thrown in jail. After four months of bad and meager rations they are released to run grog again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: crime trial prison drink sea ship outlaw punishment
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 897-898, "Young Chambers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9939
NOTES: Peacock says "smuggling liquor from the French island of St Pierre off Newfoundland's south coast has been a lucrative business for decades, especially during the days of American prohibition." Harbour Breton is on the south coast of Newfoundland. - BS
File: Pea897

Young Charlotte (Fair Charlotte) [Laws G17]

DESCRIPTION: Pretty Charlotte, going to a dance on a cold night, refuses to dress properly; warm clothes would hide her charms. First she complains of the cold, but then says "I'm growing warmer now." When they arrive at the ball, her escort finds her frozen to death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: courting death beauty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb 8, 1840 - The New York Observer publishes a story, "A Corpse Going to a Ball," describing a tragedy like this one which took place on Jan 1, 1840
FOUND IN: US(All) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (33 citations):
Laws G17, "Young Charlotte (Fair Charlotte)"
Belden, pp. 308-317, "Young Charlotte" (4 texts plus excerpts from 9 more and references to 2 more, 4 tunes)
Randolph 667, "Young Charlotte" (3 texts plus 5 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 528-532, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 667A)
Eddy 123, "Fair Charlotte" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 41, "Frozen Charlotte" (1 text plus an excerpt and mention of 1 more, 2 tunes)
Dean, pp. 56-57, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
BrownII 209, "Young Charlotte" (1 text plus mention of 3 more)
Hudson 60, pp. 182-184, "Young Charlotte" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Brewster 30, "Fair Charlotte" (2 texts plus a fragment and mention of 2 more, 2 tunes)
Rickaby 37, "Fair Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 35-38, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 305-309, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gray, pp. 94-97, "Fair Charlotte" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 723-725, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 98-100, "Schaladi" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 58-59, "The Frozen Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 48, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 825-828, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 142-143, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
LPound-ABS 44, pp. 103-107, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
JHCox 80, "Fair Charlotte" (2 texts plus mention of 5 more; 1 tune)
JHCoxIIB, #4A-B, pp. 126-129, "Fair Charlotte," "Young Charlotte" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, pp. 110-110, "The Frozen Girl"; pp. 112-114,"Charlotte, the Frozen Girl" (2 texts)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 172, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 735-737, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 51-55, "The Frozen Girl" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 150, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 64, "Young Charlotte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 60, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 220-221, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 210, "Young Charlotte" (1 text)
DT 637, YNGCHARL*
Roud #260
RECORDINGS:
Delmore Brothers, "The Frozen Girl" (Montgomery Ward M-4458, 1934)
Warde Ford, "Fair Charlotte" (AFS 4203 A1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
I. G. Greer w. Mrs. I. G. Greer, "Young Charlotte" (AFS; on LC14)
Eugene Jemison, "Fair Charlotte" (on Jem01)
Pete Seeger, "Young Charlotte" (on PeteSeeger29)
Vern Smelser, "Young Charlotte" (on FineTimes)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shepherd on the Hill" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Fair Sharlot
NOTES: This ballad is widely considered to be based on an incident which took place on Jan. 1, 1840, when a girl froze on her way to a ball (the story was reported in the Feb. 8 New York Observer). In 1843 (? -- Botkin says 1884, but Smith died in 1868) the poem "A Corpse Going to a Ball" was published by Seba Smith in "The Rover"; the ballad is frequently linked to that lyric.
The matter remains controversial, though; others have linked it to the death of Charlotte Dills, frozen to death in Auburn, Indiana in 1862. And Barry credited the song to a William Lorenzo Carter of Virginia and dated it before 1833 -- though he later accepted the attribution to Smith.
For what it is worth, Laws accepts the attribution to Smith. - RBW
File: LG17

Young Collins (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Young Collins early in the morning Went whistling through the fields of corn, He spied a milkmaid neat and trim...." He asks, "Will you go along with me now go?" She refuses. He says he has a farm, ewes, lambs, poultry. She marries him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Butterworth Collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 49, "Young Collins" (1 text plus some alternate lyrics, 1 tune)
Roud #1720
File: BuDa049

Young Collins (II)

See Lady Alice [Child 85] (File: C085)

Young Collins Green

See Lady Alice [Child 85] (File: C085)

Young Companions [Laws E15]

DESCRIPTION: The singer, born in Philadelphia, abandons his family to go to Chicago where he "sinned both might and day." At last he murders a girl and is condemned to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax, Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: family murder execution
FOUND IN: US(So,SE,SW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws E15, "Young Companions"
Randolph 161, "Taney County" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 153-155, "Taney County" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 161A)
Hudson 109, pp. 248-249, "Youth's Companions" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Larkin, pp. 109-111, "Young Companions" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 33, pp. 186-189, "Bad Company" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 625, YNGCMPN*
Roud #786
RECORDINGS:
Kelly Harrell, "I Was Born in Pennsylvania" (OKeh 40544, 1925; on KHarrell01)
File: LE15

Young Conway

DESCRIPTION: The singer tells how Conway and two others go to Renfrew and embark on a "Poland Spree." They find themselves in a fight, and eventually everyone turns on Conway. He dies of his injuries late the next day. Many grieve for him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: murder death party
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #42, "Young Conway" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3678
NOTES: Apparently based on an incident of 1886, in Renfrew, in which Conway and his companions crashed a Polish wedding party. Their gift (a baby carriage) was not appreciated, and a fight broke out in which Conway was killed. Conway was stabbed some twenty times, but no one was charged because it was impossible to determine who struck the fatal blow.
According to Fowke's informant, Michael Cuddihey, singing this song in mixed (Irish and Polish) company was guaranteed to cause fights. - RBW
File: FowL42

Young Craigston

See A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)

Young Daniel

See McLellan's Son (File: Pea831)

Young Diana

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

Young Donald

See Donall Og (Young Donald) (File: K031)

Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany, The [Child 288]

DESCRIPTION: The Queen appoints Essex to command the fleet against Germany. The Emperor, learning who opposes him, would avoid battle, but his son begs for the command. Essex is victorious, and the German prince must be exhibited in London before he is sent home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1764 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 2(5))
KEYWORDS: royalty sea navy battle prisoner patriotic
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Child 288, "The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany" (2 texts)
Bronson 288, "The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany" (2 versions)
GreigDuncan1 36, "Young Essex" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Roud #123
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 2(5), "Queen Elizabeth's Champion" or "A Famous Sea-Fight Between the Emperor of Germany, and the Earl of Essex" ("Come sound up your trumpets, and beat up your drums"), W. and C. Dicey (London), 1736-1763; also Douce Ballads 3(80b), "Queen Elizabeth's Champion" or "Great-Britain's Glory"
NOTES: Bodleian note to Harding B 2(5) and Douce Ballads 3(80b): "Subject: Naval battles; Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of, 1566-1601" - BS
Needless to say, there is no history in this song. By the time Britain developed a respectable Navy, the "emperorship" of Germany (i.e. the Holy Roman Empire) was little more than a token office. As the Habsburg Empire, it would rise again (until destroyed by Napoleon), but by then, an Earldom wasn't enough to give a man command.
The broadside copy (Child's A) may be from the publishing house of John White, meaning that it was likely issued in the years before White's death in 1769. It is reasonable to assume that the Hannoverian Succession of 1714 had made the British more aware of Germany, and some anonymous (Jacobite?) balladeer decided to grant the English a victory over them.
Internal evidence, to be sure, points to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who of course was the first great Queen of England, and who was friendly with an Earl of Essex. Her reign also saw the voyage of the Spanish Armada, resulting in the first real battle of seagoing gunships. But the Germany of Elizabeth's time was in no sense a country; feuds between Catholics and Protestants were constant, and Protestants at that time generally did not go to war with Protestants.
This song should not be confused with the broadside "The Earl of Essex," printed e.g. by Logan. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: C288

Young Edmon Bold

See Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)

Young Edmond Dell

See Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)

Young Edmond of the Lowlands Low

See Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)

Young Edward (I)

See The Battle of Mill Springs [Laws A13] (File: LA13)

Young Edward (II)

See The Drummer Boy of Waterloo [LawsJ1] (File: LJ01)

Young Edward Bold/The Lowlands Low

See Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)

Young Edward the Gallant Hussar

See Gallant Hussar, The (A Damsel Possessed of Great Beauty) (File: E147)

Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low

See Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)

Young Ellender

DESCRIPTION: A father sees Ellender with a man. Father would send the man "across the salt sea Where the loud cannons they roar" and confine Ellender on "bread and no water Once a day" She would go with him. A gold ring breaks in two and each takes half. He leaves.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1969 (recording, Phoebe Smith)
KEYWORDS: courting ring brokentoken father
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #1750
RECORDINGS:
Phoebe Smith, "Young Ellender" (on Voice06)
NOTES: The notes to Phoebe Smith's version on Voice06 describe "the rather garbled text of 'Young Ellender.'" The elements of the fragmentary story are all familiar as are the images projected by the lines. It reminds me of parts of "Charming Beauty Bright" [Laws M3], "The Iron Door"[Laws M15], "The Jolly Plowboy"[Laws M24], "Pleasant and Delightful" and countless other token ballads. Nevertheless, so far I cannot make this a version of a ballad I know. I would add one or more of the keywords "captivity," "separation," "pressgang," "war" and "cross-dressing," if any of those attributes were more than hinted at or threatened.
Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 6" - 25.8.02: "This appears to be a much fragmented version of Roud 539/Laws M15 'The Iron Door'...." The themes are right but I can't make the words fit. Line-by-line comparison with SHenry, Peacock, Creighton-NovaScotia and Creighton-Maritime shows that those texts are all closely related to each other and have no lines in common with "Young Ellender." - BS
File: RcYoElle

Young Emily

See Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)

Young Farmer's Offer, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer notes that, at twenty-one, he has come into his father's estate and become a farmer. He has a good bank balance and a cozy home; he asks, "And where's the lass to take my hand And be young Mrs. Armour?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: farming home courting
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H776, p. 261, "The Young Farmer's Offer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6900
NOTES: In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Ireland, the shortage of land was so severe that children had to stay on their parents' properties until the parents died; they could not marry until they had a plot of land on which to live. This often meant that marriages didn't take place until the man, at least, was well into his thirties.
There may be a hint of that in this song: The singer is a landowner at twenty-one, making him a prime catch. - RBW
File: HHH776

Young Fisherman, The

See The Bold Fisherman [Laws O24] (File: LO24)

Young Folks, Old Folks

See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

Young Forbest

DESCRIPTION: Elmer Forbest, described as a good Christian man, works five years for John McBean. One day, as the crew is cutting the trees, the wagon holding the logs fails and Forbest is crushed. His comrades bury him and his family mourns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: logger death work
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Doerflinger, pp. 224-225, "Young Forbest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4073
NOTES: This song is item dC52 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Doe224

Young Gal, Swing Your Tail

DESCRIPTION: Chantey/worksong: "Young gal, go swing your tail/Swing your tail to the South West gale." "Everybody gather round..." "Boys and children get troubled in mind..." "Everybody get converted..." Refrain: "Young gal, go swing your tail"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (recording, John Roberts)
KEYWORDS: nonballad shanty worksong storm
FOUND IN: Bahamas
RECORDINGS:
John Roberts, "Young Gal, Swing Your Tail" (on MuBahamas2)
NOTES: The annotation for LomaxCD1822-2 says that this song is related to the "Swing Your Tail" appearing on that CD, collected in 1935. I don't see it myself, other than the catch-phrase. - PJS
File: RcYGSYT

Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime, The

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

Young Girls, Can't You Hilo?

See Can't Ye Hilo? (File: Hug265)

Young Henry

See Henry and Mary Ann (Henry the Sailor Boy) (File: HHH037)

Young Hunting [Child 68]

DESCRIPTION: (Young Hunting) goes riding, and meets his love. She bids him come in; he says he cannot, for he must meet another love. She kills him. She is then told (by a bird?) that "he had no love but thee." But all she cares about is hiding the body
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal murder death burial bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (33 citations):
Child 68, "Young Hunting" (11 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #34}
Bronson 68, "Young Hunting" (43 versions, though a few are fragments which may belong with some other song)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 122-128, "Young Hunting" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #36}
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 87-88, "Young Hunting" (1 tune, with no text at all but reported to be this) {Bronson's #7}
Belden, pp. 34-37, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
Randolph 14, "Lord Henry and Lady Margaret" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #18}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 28-31, "Lord Henry and Lady Margaret" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 14A) {Bronson's #18}
Davis-Ballads 17, "Young Hunting" (5 texts plus a fragment; all the texts seem somewhat mixed, and "E" clearly has verses from "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight"; 4 tunes entitled "Sir Henry and Lady Margaret," "Young Hunting," "Lord Henry"; 1 more version mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #20, #22, #16, #28}
Davis-More 17, pp. 111-122, "Young Hunting" (6 texts, 5 tunes)
BrownII 18, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 8, "Young Hunting" (2 texts, one short; 1 tune) {Bronson's #42)
Hudson 9, pp. 77-78, "Young Hunting" (1 text plus a fragment, from the same informant)
Cambiaire, pp. 28-29, "Loving Henry" (1 text)
SharpAp 18 "Young Hunting" (12 texts plus 2 fragments, 14 tunes){Bronson's #35, #32, #33, #22, #40, #2, #12, #11, #25, #27, #13, #37, #31, #30}
Ritchie-Southern, po. 88-89, "Young Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 134-136, collectively titled "Young Hunting," individually "Loving Henery," "Come In, Loving Henery," "Loving Henry" (2 texts plus a fragment; the "A" text has a moralizing ending in which the girl dies; tune on p. 398) {Bronson's #10}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 36-39, "Young Hunting" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Leach, pp. 229-234, "Young Hunting" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 76-78, "Lord Barnie" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 30, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 190, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
FSCatskills 65, "The Lord of Scotland" (1 text, 1 tune. Cazden et al are not sure this song should be identified with "Young Hunting," since the "bird scene" is more extended than in other versions of that ballad. However, all the classic elements of "Young Hunting" are present)
Warner 109, "A Song of a Lost Hunter (or, My Love Heneree)" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 44, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
Niles 27, "Young Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 209-212+350-351, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 13, "Love Henry (Young Hunting)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #31}
Sandburg, pp. 64-65, "Little Scotch-ee" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 22 "Henry Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 54, "Young Hunting" (1 text)
JHCox 9, "Young Hunting" (2 texts)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 97-99, "Love Henry" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 68, FALSLADY* YNGHUNT * YNGHUNT2* YNGHUNT3* YNGHUNT5
Roud #47
RECORDINGS:
Jimmie Tarlton (Darby & Tarlton), "Lowe Bonnie" (Columbia 15763-D, 1930; on TimesAint04, ConstSor1) {Bronson's #43}
Logan English, "Love Henry" (on LEnglish1 -- several verses filled in from Cecil Sharp's Kentucky version)
Dick Justice, "Henry Lee" (Brunswick 367, 1929; on AAFM1)
Ella Parker, "Lord Barnett" (on FineTimes)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The False Young Man (The False True Lover)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lady Margot and Love Henry
Earl Richard
Lord Land
Lord Bonnie
Low Bonnie
Young Redin
NOTES: Bronson notes that the musical tradition of this ballad "is perplexed and hard to make out," the tunes having diverse metres and forms. Bronson divides them into six major groups (the largest of which has two subgroups), but notes connections to many other melodies. Given the complexity of establishing tune families, we make no attempt to list them all in the cross-references; you'll have to see Bronson.
Although American versions of this song are often known as "Loving Henry," not every song known by this title is a version of Young Hunting. Norm Cohen points out to me that at least two 78s known by this title [Kyle Wooten, "Loving Henry" (OKeh 45539, 1931; rec. 1930) and Jess Young's Tennessee Band, "Loving Henry" (Columbia 15431-D, 1929)] are not Child 68. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C068

Young Indian Lass

See The Indian Lass (File: CrNS051)

Young Jamie Foyers

See Jamie Foyers (File: McCST084)

Young Jimmy Foulger

See Jamie Foyers (File: McCST084)

Young John

See The False Lover Won Back [Child 218] (File: C218)

Young John Riley

See John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37] (File: LN37)

Young Johnnie

See Johnny Doyle [Laws M2] (File: LM02)

Young Johnny (I)

See Branded Lambs [Laws O9] (File: LO09)

Young Johnny (II)

See Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds) [Laws K36] (File: LK36)

Young Johnny of Hazelgreen

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

Young Johnstone [Child 88]

DESCRIPTION: Johnstone kills his love's brother, then seeks shelter with (successively his mother, his sister, and) his love. She hides him from his pursuers, whom she feeds while he rests. They leave and she goes to him. He kills her, probably in confusion. He dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1769 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: murder love brother reunion family hiding
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord)) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Child 88, "Young Johnstone" (6 texts)
Bronson 88, "Young Johnstone" (4 versions+2 in addenda)
GreigDuncan8 1929, "Oh Did Ye See a Bloody Knight" (1 fragment)
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 293, "Young Johnstone" (1 text, from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Mackenzie 10, "Johnson and the Colonel" (1 text, 1 tune); "Johnson and Coldwell" (1 text) {Bronson's #4}
Leach, pp. 283-284, "Young Johnstone" (1 text)
PBB 60 "Young Johnstone" (1 text)
DT 88, JOHNSTON*
Roud #56
NOTES: Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Johnston and the Young Colonel" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)).
GreigDuncan8 is a fragment of Child 88A verses 6 and 7. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C088

Young Kate of Kilcummer

DESCRIPTION: The singer loves Kate of Kilcummer. He is sure he'd find none other like her. "As the rose to the bee, As the sunshine to summer, So welcome to me Is young Kate of Kilcummer."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1839 (Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: love lyric nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 195-196, "Young Kate of Kilcummer" (1 text)

NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "Young Kate of Kilcummer is copied from a tale entitled 'The Rapparee,' printed in Bolster's 'Quarterly Magazine, No. IX.,' a Cork periodical publication, August 1828, where this ballad is said to be 'a favourite Irish song, which we have endeavoured to translate, preserving as much as possible the simplicity of the original." The Editor [Croker], however, does not recognize anything to induce him to credit this statement. He believes it to be an original composition." - BS
File: CrPS195

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Wooed and Married an' A' (II)

Wooing (I), The

Wooing (II), The

Woolloomooloo

Work of the Weavers, The

Work-Song

Workers of the World

Workhouse Boy, The

Workin' Steer, The

World of Misery

Worms Crawl In, The

Worried Man Blues

Worthington

Worthy Boys of Clone, The

Wouldn't Drive So Hard

Wounded Hussar, The

Wounded in Love

Wounded Soldier

Wounded Spirit

Wounded Whale, The

Wraggle Taggle Gipsies, O, The

Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, O, The

Wraggle Taggle Gypsy, The

Wrap Me Up in My Tarpaulin Jacket

Wrap the Green Flag Round Me, Boys

Wreck at Kankakee, The

Wreck at Latona, The

Wreck at Maud, The (Al Bowen)

Wreck between New Hope and Gethsemane

Wreck of No. 3, The (Daddy Bryson's Last Ride)

Wreck of Number Four, The

Wreck of Number Nine, The [Laws G26]

Wreck of Old 97, The [Laws G2]

Wreck of Old Ninety-Seven, The

Wreck of Old Number Nine, The

Wreck of the 'Mary Summers', The

Wreck of the 1256, The

Wreck of the 1262, The (The Freight Wreck at Altoona)

Wreck of the 36, The

Wreck of the 444, The

Wreck of the Annie Roberts, The

Wreck of the Asia, The

Wreck of the Atlantic

Wreck of the Avondale, The

Wreck of the Belle Sheridan, The

Wreck of the C & O Number Five, The

Wreck of the C & O Sportsman

Wreck of the Christabel, The

Wreck of the Dandenong, The

Wreck of the Eliza, The

Wreck of the Enterprise (Machrihanish Bay)

Wreck of the Fanad Boat, The

Wreck of the G & SI

Wreck of the Glenaloon, The

Wreck of the Glenna Loon, The

Wreck of the Gwendoline, The

Wreck of the Hunnicut Curve, The

Wreck of the Huron, The [Laws D21]

Wreck of the John B., The

Wreck of the Julia Dean, The

Wreck of the Julie Plante, The

Wreck of the Kinsale, The

Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke, The

Wreck of the Maggie, The

Wreck of the Mary Jane, The

Wreck of the Morning Mail, The

Wreck of the Morrissey, The

Wreck of the N & W Cannonball

Wreck of the Nimrod, The

Wreck of the Old 97, The

Wreck of the Old Southern 97, The

Wreck of the Rebecca, The (The Mary Cochrane)

Wreck of the Regulus

Wreck of the Royal Palm

Wreck of the Semmity (Yosemite), The

Wreck of the Shenandoah

Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver, The

Wreck of the Southern Ninety-Seven, The

Wreck of the Steamship Ethie, The

Wreck of the Steamship Florizel, The