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Discuss: Johnson Girls (chantey)
DigiTrad:
JOHNSON BOYS
JOHNSON BOYS 2
JOHNSON GAL
Related thread:
(origins) Origins: Johnson Boys/Johnson Gals (40)
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Subject: bouline From: GUEST,Daniel Date: 17 Jan 01 - 03:25 AM Bonjour from france, I'm looking for the lyric of the seasong "The johnson girls" performed by johnny collins and jim mageean Merci à tous |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: bouline From: Zebedee Date: 17 Jan 01 - 04:38 AM The fact that there's a female shanty group called the "Johnson Girls" complicates searching. There's a song in the database called Johnson Gal. Is that the one you wanted? Ed |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: bouline From: MartinRyan Date: 17 Jan 01 - 05:31 AM HERE's a reference to the recording, in case anyone has it. Regards |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: bouline From: GUEST,Daniel Date: 17 Jan 01 - 09:09 AM thanks to you zebedee and MartinRyan I bought the record of johnny Collins and Jim Mageean during the great ship festival "BREST 2000" and I met them. I play in a shanty group and I like the tempo of this song. Unfortunately, I thought find the lyric in the CD but it was not in it, and my english is to poor to copy the song when I listen to it (I hope you understand what I write! ;o) ). I saw the song Johnson Gal, but it seems that the words are not the same. Merci |
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Subject: ADD: Johnson Girls (shanty) From: Barry Finn Date: 17 Jan 01 - 08:11 PM JOHNSON GIRLS (Shanty) Johnson Girls are mighty fine girls Walk around honey walk around Johnson Girls are mighty fine girls Walk around honey walk around
They got great big legs & intsy binsy feet (2x)
Beefsteak, beafsteak make a little gravy
They make a ???? called j???? jam or something like that, Barry |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: bouline From: GUEST,Daniel Date: 18 Jan 01 - 02:38 AM Thanks a lot Barry I don't know exactly what this song means in French (I guess it tells about a curious girl!), but it's a good opportunity to improve my english! Bien sincerement Daniel |
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Subject: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Kudzuman Date: 06 Nov 02 - 08:59 PM Already searched this one in the forum and DT. So far no luck on the version I'm looking for. The one I'm looking for goes like this: Johnson Girls is a-mighty fine girls Walk around honey, honey walk around And that's all I know. Sea chanty for sure if that helps narrow the search. Thanks!! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:20 PM I thought that was a Mudcat standard, but I had a little trouble finding it. The thread on the song is above (click), and even Barry Finn doesn't have complete lyrics. It's on a CD by Starboard List, and it has an interesting period of silence between each verse. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNSON GIRLS From: masato sakurai Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:22 PM From this site. JOHNSON GIRLS Then Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls, Ch. Walk around, honey, walk around! Then Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls. Ch. Walk around, honey, walk around! They are neat in the waist and got mighty fine legs, Great big legs and teeny eensy feet. Beefsteak, beefsteak make a little gravy, Your thing, my thing, make a little baby. They have got something over yonder they call Jamaica jam, Hot as chilly pepper an' good goddam. Then Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls, Then Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:27 PM Sounds right, Masato. Thanks. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: GUEST,Richie Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:42 PM It's also in a thread with incomplete lyrics. -Richie |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Sandy Paton Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:50 PM Trouble is, it's on Folk-Legacy's CD of The Boarding Party, Tis Our Sailing Time - CD-97. I don't think it's on the Starboard List CD, which we also carry, but I don't have a copy up here with me to check on that. Tom McHenry leads it on the Boarding Party recording. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:54 PM Yes, Sandy, it's on the Boarding Party CD, not on Starboard List. I couldn't find either CD at the moment, so I had to rely on my unreliable memory... [grin] [groan] -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: GUEST,Richie Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:59 PM It's also on Keelhaulin' by The Keelers ( Newcastle UK) -Richie |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Mr Red Date: 07 Nov 02 - 04:12 PM Sam Simmons of SomersFolkLife sings this if you want a few variations. I point to his website and e-mail on my site cresby.com. I'm sure he would oblige if you ask him. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Sandy Paton Date: 07 Nov 02 - 09:02 PM I'll confess, Joe. I cheat! I have a wonderful index of all the songs on Folk-Legacy's 128 recordings that Karen K (the Mudcatter who first told me about the Forum) compiled and printed out for me. I use it all the time to answer questions about where people can find particular songs. I often get such requests after one or another of the folk DJs plays something from our catalog. I'd be lost without it. Caroline can often remember which album or CD a song is on, but I forget. Now that I'm digitally mastering much of our back catalog, I'm reminded of how many good songs there are in that pile of stuff we've recorded over the past 41 years. You'll be hearing them soon, lad. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Kudzuman Date: 08 Nov 02 - 11:38 AM Thanks everyone. I have it on a recording by a Polish group called "Top Twentys". I can't find out anything about them but the recording is a hoot. Great harmonies and all Celtic/English songs mostly sung in Polish. It is unique to say the least!! 80's vintage I think! Kudzuman rustling in the wind after the first frost. |
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Subject: ADD Version: Johnson Girls (chantey) From: VirginiaTam Date: 13 Aug 09 - 03:58 PM I learned it from CD titled Tomorrow's Tide by Salt of the Earth (Barrie and Ingrid Temple and Joyce and Danny McLeod). Lyrics below as I transcribed from listening to the CD. JOHNSON GIRLS Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls Walk around, honey walk around Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls Walk around, honey walk around Neat in the waste and mighty fine legs Walk around, honey walk around Neat in the waste and mighty fine legs Walk around, honey walk around Great big legs and teency, eency feet Walk around, honey walk around Great big legs and teency, eency feet Walk around, honey walk around Beef steak make a little gravy Walk around, honey walk around Your thing my thing make a little baby Walk around, honey walk around A way down yonder they got Jumaica jam Walk around, honey walk around Hot as cayenne and a good god dazmn Walk around, honey walk around Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls Walk around, honey walk around Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls Walk around, honey walk around The CD liner notes follow: JOHNSON GIRLS (Traditional) A fine song originally recorded on the menhaden fishing boat The Boys of Maryport, Florida in July 1940 by Robert Cook and Robert Cornwall. We first heard it from Bob Walser ('Landlocked' 1988 – great album!) who has been responsible for researching and introducing so many good songs to our tradition. Pulling or 'hardening up' the nets, is done in silence and the verses sung while the fishermen gather a new grip on the net. So there is a 2 bar rest between each line. Very effective and goes down pretty well with listeners when I perform it. |
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Subject: RE: Johnson Girls (shanty) From: Herga Kitty Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:34 PM It was sung this evening at Johnny Collins' wake, by Tom Kelly. Kitty |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Gibb Sahib Date: 13 Aug 09 - 08:22 PM Unfortunately, nearly everyone (that I've heard) seems to sing the same lyrics and it's damn boring. Surely the words to this "folk" song from an African-American tradition are incidental and not intended to be "covered" as if it were a Queen song! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: VirginiaTam Date: 14 Aug 09 - 02:48 AM Gibb Are you saying that Queen covered this? I don't sing it in anyway like Freddy Mercury, more like Odetta would. But it is interesting to think about. Hmmm! can I get away with prancing, while I sing it? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: GUEST,HESK Date: 09 Sep 09 - 04:10 AM Anyone know what Jamaica, Jumaica, jam is? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: breezy Date: 09 Sep 09 - 04:14 AM yam even Yes, everyone knows. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: GUEST,HESK Date: 09 Sep 09 - 06:39 AM Interesting theory, but Jimmy Mageen, and other singers, clearly sing "jam". In any case the vegetable is not hot, like Chilli, or Cayenne are. Perhaps I have misunderstood your meaning, that according to you, everyone else knows and understands! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: Azizi Date: 09 Sep 09 - 09:00 AM GUEST,HESK, I almost positive that Jamaican jam means the same thing as jelly does in Blues slang. Here's a link which explains more: http://blueslyrics.tripod.com/blueslanguage.htm#jelly_roll |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: SPB-Cooperator Date: 09 Sep 09 - 06:40 PM I can't find my copy at the moment, so I can't remember if they recorded it, but you can get a feel for how the song worked by listening to the Menhaden Fisherman's Choir |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls From: SPB-Cooperator Date: 09 Sep 09 - 06:47 PM It's not on the recording. |
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Subject: ADD Version: Johnson Girls (chantey) From: GUEST,Joy (one of The Johnson Girls Date: 18 Jun 10 - 02:54 PM JOHNSON GIRLS Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls, walk around, honey, walk around Them Johnson Girls is a mighty fine girls walk around, honey, walk around Neat in the waist, they got might fine legs walk around... Neat in the waist, they got might fine legs walk around... Great big legs and a teensy eensy feet walk around... Great big legs and a teensy eensy feet walk around... Beefsteak, beefsteak, make a little gravy walk around... Yo' thing, my thing, make a little baby walk around... They got som'thin under yonder they call Ju'maica jam walk around... Hot as cayenne, but it's good god-dam walk around... Johnson girls is a mighty fine girls, walk around, honey, walk around Them Johnson Girls is a mighty fine girls walk around, honey, walk around keep in mind that this is a Menahden chantey -- the work was not done while singing, but in the pauses - so after the "walk around..." bits there were long pauses in the music while the work (pulling in the nets, etc.) was done. Azizi -- you are correct about "jam" – which is one of the reasons why the line is "som'thin' UNDER yonder and NOT OVER" |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnson Girls (chantey) From: GUEST,jim parham Date: 15 Nov 22 - 02:46 PM Johnson Girls From the crew of The Boys of Mayport Florida The recording from which this derives was made at sea by Robert Cornwall and Robert Cook on July 2nd, 1941. It is held at the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, AFS 3891. Notes in the AFC file include the following: While the song was being sung the men were “hardnin’ up the nets” that is, they were standing in the two purseboats which formed a triangle against the side of the ship and were pulling the fish-laden net to the surface of the ocean. The first line of each verse was sung by a single man and the entire crew took up the chorus. The men were silent during the interval of pulling the net. The song continued each time they paused to get a new grip on the net. 1. Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls Walk around, honey, walk around Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls Walk around, honey, walk around. 2. They’re neat in the waist and got mighty fine legs Neat in the waist and got mighty fine legs. 3. Great big legs and teeny-eensy feet Great big legs and teeny-eensy feet. 4. Beef steak, beef steak, make a little gravy Your thing, my thing, make a little baby. 5. They got somethin’ over yonder they call jewmaka jam Hot as cayenne but good, God Damn. 6. Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls. 7. menhaden fishing vessel out of Mayport, Florida, were using this unusual shanty to haul in a well-filled net when Robert Cornwall and Robert Cook recorded them on July 2, 1940. As the crew sang, they were standing in two small “purseboats” that formed a triangle with the ship, and were pulling up the self-closing purse seine net from the water’s depths within the formation. They were using the song in a way that was the reverse, in a sense, from how most sea shanties were applied. The raising of a sail, for example, would typically be done to the rhythm of certain key beats in the chorus. Aboard The Boys, however, the men were silent during their actual hauling of the net, singing only when they had stopped to get a new grip, which is the reason for the pauses between verses. Bob Walser learned the song from the original field recording; Tom McHenry learned it from him, and sings it here. |
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