Craw Killed the Pussie O, The

See The Craw Killed the Pussy-O (File: MSBR103)

Craw Killed the Pussy-O, The

DESCRIPTION: "The craw killed the pussy-o (x2), The muckle cat Sat doon and grat Behind the wee bit housie, O!" "The craw killed the pussy-o (x2), And aye, aye, the kitten cried, 'Oh, who'll bring me mousie-o?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: animal bird death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig #154, p. 2, ("The craw killed the pussie O");Greig #155, p. 2, "The Craw's Killed the Pussie O" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan8 1678, "The Craw's Ta'en the Pussie" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 103, "(The crow killed the pussy, O!)" (1 short text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 26, ("The craws hae killed the poussie, O")
Roud #9221
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Green Grows the Rashes" (tune, per Greig #155)
File: MSBR103

Craw's Killed the Pussie O, The

See The Craw Killed the Pussy-O (File: MSBR103)

Craw's Ta'en the Pussie, The

See The Craw Killed the Pussy-O (File: MSBR103)

Crawdad

DESCRIPTION: "You get a line and I'll get a pole... And we'll go down to the crawdad hole, Honey, baby mine." "What you gonna do when the lake runs dry, honey...." Sundry verses about catching crawdads, rural life, and (presumably) sexual innuendo
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: animal fishing nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 34, "Sweet Thing/Crawdad Song/Sugar Babe" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 896, "Crawdad" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 86, "Crawdad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 271, "Crawdad" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 103, "Dweley" (1 text, a collection of floating verses including one from this song, one from "The Jawbone Song," and others)
SharpAp 199, "The Crow-fish Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 23, "Crawdad" (1 text)
DT, CRAWDAD
Roud #4853
RECORDINGS:
Jess Alexander, "Crawdad Song" (AAFS 617 B1)
Mrs. Vernon Allen, "Crawdad Song" (AAFS 4142 B1/2)
Mary Davis, "Crawdad Song" (AAFS 1488 A/B1)
Girls of the Golden West, "You Get a Line and I'll Get a Pole" (Bluebird B-5167, 1933; Montgomery Ward M-4455, 1934)
J. L. Gores, "Sugar Babe" (AAFS 2593 B3)
Sam Hinton, "The Crawdad Song" (Decca K-69, n.d.)
Honeyboy & Sassafras, "Crawdad Song" (Brunswick 417, rec. 1929)
Clint Howard et al, "Crawdad Song" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Sugar Babe" (AAFS 827 B3, 1935)
Vera Kilgore, "Crawdad" (AAFS 2939 B2)
Evelyn Knight & Red Foley, "Crawdad Song" (Decca 27599, 1951)
Leary Family & T. Henderson, "Crawdad Song" (AAFS 3574 B1)
Texas Jim Lewis' Lone Star Cowboys (Perfect 7-12-55, 1937)
Lone Star Cowboys, "Crawdad Song" (RCA Victor 20-2941, 1948)
[Asa] Martin & [James] Roberts, "Crawdad Song" (Perfect 13046 [as by Asa Martin]/Melotone 13148, 1934)
Leroy Martin & group of convicts, "Crawdad" (AAFS 2671 A2)
Alec Moore, "Sugar Babe" (on AAFS 55 B1)
Poplin Family, "Crawdad Hole" (on Poplin01)
Sims & Mandie Tartt & Bettie Atmore, "Sugar Babe" (AAFS 2704 A3)
Joe Turner, "Crawdad Hole" (Atlantic 1001, 1952)
Ray Wood, "Sugar Babe" (AAFS 1594 A1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet Thing (I)" (tune, lyrics, and everything else)
cf. "Back to Jericho" (words, pattern)
cf. "New River Train"
cf. "Going Around the World (Banjo Pickin' Girl, Baby Mine)"
cf. "This Mornin', This Evenin', Right Now" (tune, pattern)
SAME TUNE:
How Many Biscuits Can You Eat? (File: RcHMBCYE)
Pittsburg (Pittsburg Town) (on PeteSeeger13, AmHist1; PeteSeeger39)
Bill Cox, "N.R.A. Blues" (Perfect 13090, 1935)
Log Cabin Boys, "New Crawdad Song" (Decca 5103, 1935)
NOTES: Songs with this tune and metrical pattern turn up throughout North American tradition; like the limerick, this skeleton seems to have become a favorite framework for humorous material. - PJS
This song poses a conundrum (hinted at in Paul's comment), because it merges continuously with the "Sweet Thing" family; they use the same tune (at least sometimes) and ALL of the same verses. Roud lumps them.
Chances are that they are "the same" song (whatever that means). But the tenor of the song changes somewhat with the presence or absence of a crawdad; after initially lumping the song, the Ballad Index staff decided to split them, based solely on mention of a crawdad. But one should definitely check all versions of both to get the complete range of material. - RBW
Just to confuse things further, the version of "The Crow-fish Man" in SharpAp (which uses a "This morning so soon" refrain) mentions crawdads, whereas the one in Sharp/Karpeles-80E apparently doesn't. So the former is filed here, the latter under "Sweet Thing (I)." Sharp also notes that his informant learned the song from an African-American singer.
The versions called "Sugar Babe" should not be confused with "Sugar Baby", aka "Red Rocking Chair." - PJS
File: R443

Crawdad Song

See Crawdad (File: R443)

Crayfish, The

See The Sea Crab (File: EM001)

Crazy Grey Mare, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer stops at a tavern for whiskey and hay for his mare. When the mare is startled by a train, he is thrown from the sleigh. The mare is gone: he thinks killed by the train. She is at the tavern. She says she left because he is nasty when drunk.
AUTHOR: Hugh Lauchlan MacDonald
EARLIEST DATE: 1968 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: accusation drink ordeal humorous horse
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 183-185, 243, "The Crazy Grey Mare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13987
File: IvDC183

Crazy Jane

DESCRIPTION: Henry deserts Jane, "and with him forever fled the wits of Crazy Jane." She tells the story to each frightened passerby and each "in pity cries: 'God help poor Crazy Jane!'" "When men flatter, sigh and languish, Think them false, I found them so"
AUTHOR: Words: Matthew Gregory Lewis/Music: John Davy ?
EARLIEST DATE: before 1808 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 12(141))
KEYWORDS: madness courting lie warning lament
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 436-437, "Crazy Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea436 (Partial)
Roud #6458
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 12(141), "The Favourite Song, of Crazy Jane," Burbage and Stretton (Nottingham), 1797-1807; also Harding B 11(3335), Johnson Ballads 781, Harding B 11(3647), Firth b.27(10), Firth b.26(46), Harding B 28(61), Harding B 11(740), Firth b.25(140), Harding B 11(741), Harding B 25(444), Harding B 17(66a), Harding B 17(65b), Firth b.25(340), 2806 c.18(74), "Crazy Jane"; 2806 b.11(216), Harding B 11(3066), Harding B 11(3067), Harding B 11(3068), Harding B 11(3069), "Poor Crazy Jane"
LOCSinging, sb10044a, "Crazy Jane," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as102530, "Crazy Jane"
NOTES: Bodleian attributes authorship to Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775-1818), but attributes no other broadsides to him. According to the English Department University of Pennsylvania site Lewis is best known for his 1796 Gothic novel "The Monk."
The Public Domain Music site attributes the music to John Davy (1763-1824) and makes 1800 the date of the song.
Bodleian has one related broadside as "The Birth of Crazy Jane", London, 1800-1802, shelfmark Johnson Ballads 301.
Bodleian has one parody as "Crazy Paul" dated Feb 5, 1801 which asks "Can a moonstruck Russian sailor Draw the fleet of France from Brest?" shelfmark Curzon b.3(138).
Broadside LOCSinging sb10044a: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Yeats wrote a whole series of "Crazy Jane" poems (though they don't seem to have been particularly popular); Peacock suspects this piece of inspiring them, but cannot prove it. - RBW
File: Pea436

Crazy Song to the Air of "Dixie"

DESCRIPTION: "Way down south in the land of cotton, I wrote this song and wrote it rotten, I did, I didn't -- you don't believe me. The reason why I cannot sing I have no chestnuts for to spring...." Other nonsense of similar calibre follows
AUTHOR: "Andy Lee" (W. W. Delaney) supplied Sandburg's text
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Ernest Stoneman)
KEYWORDS: nonsense nonballad parody derivative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sandburg, p. 342, "Crazy Song to the Air of 'Dixie'" (1 text)
Gilbert, pp. 105-106, "Her Age It Was Red" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 61, "Take It Out, Take It Out, Remove It" (1 text, tune referenced); also p. 61, "The Whale Song (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #10134
RECORDINGS:
Ernest Stoneman, "Dixie Parody" (OKeh 40430, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dixie" (tune) and references there
NOTES: The nature of this song is such that almost any nonsense can, and is, attracted to it. So any nonsense to the air of "Dixie" is listed here (with the exception of "A Horse Named Bill," which is coherent in a small way). - RBW
File: San342

Creation

See Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again [Laws I18] (File: LI18)

Creation Song, The

See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

Cree-Mo-Cri-Mo-Dorro-Wah

See Kemo Kimo (File: R282)

Creeping and Crawling

DESCRIPTION: The young man, creeping and crawling, seduces the maid, taking a knife to cut the tie on her drawers. He leaves her to lament nine months later.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Sharp mss., a "Sally My Dear" version with the words bowdlerized)
KEYWORDS: bawdy childbirth sex seduction lament clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South)) US(So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 33-39, "Creeping and Crawling" (7 texts, 2 tunes)
Kennedy 178, "The Knife in the Window" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 89, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CRPCRAWL* KNIFWIND
Roud #12590
RECORDINGS:
James "Iron Head" Baker, "Crawling and Creeping" (AFS 717 A1, 1936)
Harry Cox, "The Knife in the Window" (on FSB2CD)
A. L. Lloyd, "Pretty Polly" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
Asa Martin, "Crawling and Creeping" (Oriole 8452, 1935)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hares on the Mountain" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Pretty Polly
The Snoring Maid
Lay Your Leg over Me Do
Nancy and Johnny
The Young Doctor
NOTES: In England, this song regularly mixes with "Hares on the Mountain," with which it shares a tune. But the plots are different; I happily keep them separate though Roud lumps them (while defining "Crawling and Creeping" as a separate item). - RBW
The Lloyd recording provocatively contains the chorus "Lay your leg over me, over me, do" And at least one recorded version of "Sally, My Dear" -- an American one -- contains the "cutting the trousers" motif. So if "Sally, My Dear" is truly part of the "Hares on the Mountain" family, then "Creeping and Crawling" (or the "Pretty Polly" variant of it) is another link to "Roll Your Leg Over." - PJS
File: RL033

Creeping Jane [Laws Q23]

DESCRIPTION: Racehorse Creeping Jane is not well known, but wins a race despite a slow start -- and is still fresh, though the course exhausted the other animals. After Jane dies, plans are made to keep her body from the hounds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1855 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.19(76))
KEYWORDS: horse racing burial
FOUND IN: US(MW) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws Q23, "Creeping Jane"
MacSeegTrav 114, "Creeping Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 99, "Creeping Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 532, CREEPJAN*
Roud #1012
RECORDINGS:
Joseph Taylor, "Creeping Jane" (on Voice08)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.19(76)[first line illegible], "Creeping Jane" ("I'll sing you a song, and a very pretty one"), E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1846-1854; also Firth c.19(73), Firth c.19(75), Harding B 11(174), "Creeping Jane"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bill Hopkin's Colt" (theme)
cf. "Down the Road" (II) (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Jockey's Song
File: LQ23

Creggan White Hare, The

DESCRIPTION: Barney Conway hunts the famous Creggan White Hare. He finds the hare but she eludes his dogs. He calls in sportsmen "with pedigree greyhounds" who arrive "in a fine motor-car." She eludes the seven men and nine dogs. "Health to the Creggan White Hare"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1945 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: escape hunting animal dog
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 85, "The Creggan White Hare" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Bell/O Conchubhair, Traditional Songs of the North of Ireland, pp. 54-56, "The Creggan White Hare"
Roud #9633
NOTES: Creggan is in County Antrim, Ireland. - BS
I have a strange feeling this has something to do with the Irish revolution. In particular it makes me think of Michael Collins (for whom see "General Michael Collins") and the dramatic British attempts to catch him in the period around 1919-1920. Collins, to be sure, was from the south -- but he would in time be elected to the Irish parliament from Armagh.
i repeat, it's just speculation. - RBW
Also collected and sung by Kevin Mitchell, "The Creggan White Hare" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
File: TSF085

Creole Girl, The

See The Lake of Ponchartrain [Laws H9] (File: LH09)

Crew from Boston Bay, The

DESCRIPTION: The Gin, with a crew from Boston Bay, is lost in the fog off Jefferey's. They drift until "I can smell the beans, we are drifted home" says the captain. They drop anchor, "and were guided by the sinful smell as we walked ashore on the fog"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: fishing sea ship shore ordeal humorous
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 110-111, "The Crew from Boston Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9960
File: Pea110

Crew of the Clara Youell, The

DESCRIPTION: "It's of a stately vessel, a vessel of great fame, And if you want to know her, the Clara Youell's her name.... She's the pride of Goderich harbor, and she's in the lumber line." The singer describes the captain, cook, and crew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (collected from Norman MacIvor by Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor moniker nonballad cook
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 149-150, "The Crew of the Clara Youell" (1 text)
File: WGM149

Cribisse! Cribisse! (Crawfish! Crawfish!)

DESCRIPTION: "Cribisse! Cribisse! pas gain di tout "show" bebe!... Creyole trappe ye pou' fait gumbo bebe." Sung in English and in (Creole) French, this song mocks the propensity of the Creole to be found around crawfish and vice versa.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: nonballad humorous foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 580, "Cribisse! Cribisse! (Crawfish! Crawfish!)" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BMRF580

Cricket and Crab-louse, The (Down Derry Down)

DESCRIPTION: A girl picks a flower containing a cricket and a crab-louse. Both transfer to her body; the crab-louse takes up residence in her vagina. The next day, he escapes and tells the cricket of the horrors he experienced while she had sex
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1976 (collected by Logsdon from Riley Neal)
KEYWORDS: bug sex bawdy humorous
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Logsdon 56, pp. 258-260, "Down, Derry Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4791
NOTES: Logsdon notes mentions of an item about a crab-louse and cricket in Legman's The Horn Book. Legman (pp. 153, 183) refers to a single item names "The Cricket and Crab-Louse," which appears on page 69 of an 1825 edition of The Merry Muses of Caledonia (a book which reportedly survive in only one copy). I have adopted Legman's title, since Logsdon's is so meaningless, but it should be noted that I have not seen the Merry Muses text; I am equating the two based solely on Legman's description. It is possible that the texts of the Merry Muses and Riley Neal are entirely different songs derived from a common folktale (which Legman also considers to underlie Tristram Shandy and Scientology). - RBW
File: Logs056

Cricketty Wee

DESCRIPTION: Arty Art, Dandrum Dart, and Brother-in-Three ask, in turn, "Where are ye going?"; Cricketty Wee answers, "To the fair." He will buy a pony, he will marry, will drink, will eat, will put food away, a cat will guard it; his children will work for death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: commerce wedding humorous questions
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H744, pp. 12-13, "Cricketty Wee" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CRICKWEE*
Roud #236
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Billy Barlow" (form)
cf. "The Cutty Wren" (form)
cf. "Hunt the Wren" (form, subject)
NOTES: Scholars almost without exception link this to "The Cutty Wren" and/or "Billy Barlow." The only similarity, however, is in form; neither the plot nor the characters are the same. I am clearly in the minority, but I don't think they're the same song. In any case, when in doubt, we split. - RBW
File: HHH744

Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers, The

DESCRIPTION: "Way out west in Oregon in 1923, The D'Autremont brothers wrecked the train as brutal as could be." Four of the train crew are killed. The brothers flee, are caught almost four years later, and "noe they are in prison for the lives they led."
AUTHOR: probably the Johnson Brothers
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording by the Johnson Brothers)
KEYWORDS: train robbery murder manhunt punishment prison
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 11, 1923 - Roy, Ray, and Hugh DeAutremont attack the San Francisco Express as it comes out of a tunnel in Oregon. The brothers were caught in 1927 and all were given life sentences
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 166-168, "The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Johnson Brothers, "Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers" (Victor 21646, 1928)
NOTES: Pretty definitely not a folk song; the only early recording appears to be that by the Johnson Brothers (whose small repertoire included several other non-traditional songs); Cohen reports that it sold fewer than 6000 copies, and the song does not appear ever to have been found in the field.
Charles and Paul Johnson seem to have been rather mysterious themselves; Cohen also reports that their listed home town of Tuco, Kentucky, cannot be located. - RBW
File: LSRai066

Crimean War, The [Laws J9]

DESCRIPTION: Johnny and his mother together tell of Johnny's part in the Crimean War. Having fought at Alma, Balaclava, and Sevastopol, he is now safely (and happily) home again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: war
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 20, 1854 - Battle of Alma
Oct 25, 1854 - Battle of Balaclava
Nov 5, 1854 - Battle of Inkerman clears the way for the siege of Sevastopol (the city fell in the fall of 1855)
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws J9, "The Crimean War"
Gardner/Chickering 91, "The Crimean War" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean, pp. 49-50, As I Rode Down Through Irishtown" (1 text)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 123-125, "The Crimean War" (1 text, 1 tune, with the text of this piece though the tune is described as being identical to that for "As I Went Down to Port Jervis")
DT 765, CRIMEAWR
Roud #1924
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "As I Went Down to Port Jervis" (tune, lyrics, plot)
NOTES: For the relationship of this song to "As I Went Down to Port Jervis," see the notes to that song. That song is certainly derived from this, and could easily be listed as a version (so, e.g., Roud), but Cazden et al consider them separate. Some versions, such as that of Ives, may belong with the "Port Jervis" rather than here. - RBW.
File: LJ09

Criole Candjo (Creole Candio)

DESCRIPTION: Creole French. Candio comes asking the young woman to "make merry" with him. He follows her everywhere and repeats his pestering. She repeats her refusal, and wishes the listeners had met him so they would know what pressure he put her under
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: courting foreignlanguage
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 216-218, "Criole Candjo" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a translation from Creole French into Creole English)
File: LxA216

Cripple Creek (I)

DESCRIPTION: Often found as a fiddle tune with words: "I got a gal at the head of the creek, Goin' up to see her 'bout the middle of the week...." "Goin' up to Cripple Creek, Goin' at a run, Goin' up to Cripple Creek to have a little fun." Most verses involve courting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1913 (JAFL28)
KEYWORDS: fiddle courting river nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
BrownIII 299, "Cripple Creek" (1 short text plus mention of 1 more)
SharpAp 247, "Gone to Cripple Creek" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 118, "Cripple Creek" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 898-899, "Cripple Creek" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 83, "Shootin' Creek" (1 text, with recitation and verses partly derived from "Ida Red (I)")
Silber-FSWB, p. 37, "Cripple Creek" (1 text)
BrownIII 43, "Old Corn Licker" (a 2-line fragment, unclassifiable but with similarities to some texts of this song)
DT, CRIPLCRK
Roud #3434
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Going Down to Cripple Creek" (OKeh 45214, 1928)
Charlie Higgins, Wade Ward & Dale Poe, "Cripple Creek" [instrumental] (on LomaxCD1701)
The Hillbillies, "Cripple Creek" (OKeh 40336, 1925) (Vocalion 15367, 1926/Vocalion 5115, c. 1927)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Cripple Creek" (on MMOKCD)
Doc Hopkins, "Cripple Creek" (Radio 1410B, n.d., prob. late 1940s - early 1950s)
Land Norris, "Red Creek" (OKeh 40433, 1925)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Shootin' Creek" (composite with "Ida Red (I)"; Columbia15286-D, 1928; on CPoole01, CPoole05)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "Cripple Creek" (Gennett 6336, 1927)
Ernest Stoneman, "Going Up Cripple Creek" (Victor 20294, 1926)
Stove Pipe No. 1 [pseud. for Sam Jones], "Cripple Creek & Sourwood Mountain" (Columbia 201-D, 1924)
Tweedy Brothers, "Cripple Creek" (Silvertone 4008, c. 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sally Goodin" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Ida Red (I)" (floating verses)
NOTES: The notes in Brown say that there was a gold rush at Cripple Creek, producing this song. But it's worth noting that the sources can't agree on the state in which Cripple Creek is located (Colorado, Virginia). - RBW
File: San320

Cripple Creek (II) (Buck Creek Girls)

DESCRIPTION: "Buck Creek girl, don't you want to go to Cripple Creek? Cripple Creek girl, don't you want to go to town?" (x2). Alternately, "Buck Creek girls, don't you want to go to Somerset? Somerset girl, don't you want to go to town?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: nonballad travel
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SharpAp 241, "Cripple Creek, or Buck Creek Girl" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 64, "Cripple Creek" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3434
RECORDINGS:
Banjo Bill Cornett, "Buck Creek Girls" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Buck Creek Gal
NOTES: Not to be confused with the fiddle tune/old time dance of the same name ("Going up to Cripple Creek..."). - RBW
File: SKE64

Cripple Kirsty

DESCRIPTION: A porter meets Cripple Kirsty and asks if she's thirsty. She offers to pay half and they stop at a tavern. When she asks for another round he refuses. She says the drink she had was good and tells him to call on her the next time he would share a round.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan3)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "It's wha amang ye hisna heard o' weel-kent Cripple Kirsty." When a porter asks her if she were thirsty she offers to add her two-pence to his and "we'll hae a wee drap whiskie." He agrees and they go to Shirra's for a pint. She deftly drinks hers. He praises her but when she says "'lat us hae some mair o't' 'Na! na!' quo he 'ye greedy jade I think ye've got yer share o't.'" Says she, "'I maun be contentit ... it's done me muckle gweed ....' An noo I hope ye'se gies a ca' some mornin' fin yer thirsty An as ye gae by Fiddler's Close cry in for Cripple Kirsty"
KEYWORDS: drink parody
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #170, p. 2, "Cripple Kirsty" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 556, "Cripple Kirsty" (1 text)
Roud #6030
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Maggie Lauder" (tune, form and text basis for parody)
NOTES: Greig: "'Cripple Kirsty' I owe to Mr Wm Walker, Aberdeen who says it used to be sung by a fiddling neighbour about the middle of last century. He never saw it in print. Being a parody, and an exceedingly happy one, of 'Maggie Lauder,' it is of course sung to the same tune." That's as may be but, if there are hints of sexual symbolism in the original they seem lost in the parody.
For comparison's sake here's a Maggie Lauder longdescription: "Wha wadna be in love Wi' bonny Maggie Lauder." When a piper asks her "what was't they ca'd her," she tells him but "right scornfully" and tells him to begone. He, Rob the ranter, won't leave and claims "the lasses loup as they were daft When I blaw upon my chanter." She has heard of him as have "the lasses far and near." She says, "I'll shake my foot wi' right good will Gif you'll blaw up your chanter." When he played "Meg up and wallop'd o'er the green." He praises her dancing and she his playing. Says she, "There's none in Scotland plays so weel ... I've lived at Fife baith maid and wife These ten years and a quarter Gin you shall come to Anster fair Spier [ask] you for Maggie Lauder."
GreigDuncan3: "As sung by Hugh Gallanders, a fiddling neighbour of ours 1846-1850 ...." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3556

Crockery Ware

DESCRIPTION: A merchant wants to lay with a girl one night. She puts dishes on a chair near her bed. In the dark he breaks the dishes and chair and wakes her mother. She calls the police and he has to pay for the crockery ware and broken chair.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (recording, O. J. Abbott)
KEYWORDS: sex trick bawdy humorous mother rake nightvisit courting lover police
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Peacock, pp. 257-258, "Crockery Ware" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 119, "Old Woman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 129-130,243-244, "The Crockery Ware" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CROCKWAR CROCKRY*
Roud #1490
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "A Young Man Lived in Belfast Town" (on Abbott1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(37), "Crockery Ware," unknown, n.d.
NOTES: At least one source claims that the Crockery Ware wasn't just random pottery but the chamber pot. Not sure I believe it; that sounds awfully messy. - RBW
File: Pea257

Crocodile, The

See The Wonderful Crocodile (File: MA134)

Cromie's Orange Buck, The

DESCRIPTION: Coming from a Hibernian Ball Misses M'Nulty and O'Hare meet Cromie's ranting Buck. He says he had "full authority from all the Orange boys" to "rip you on the ground." They run for protection to Barney Greenan who saves them. Ladies: travel protected.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: warning rescue party political talltale animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 37, "The Cromie's Orange Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2889
NOTES: Morton-Ulster: "Initiation into the Orange Order involves various rituals the most important being 'the ride on the buck'. Whether this actually means that you ride on the back of a goat I just don't know, but the 'buck' has become a symbol of Orange power... '[T]he ranting season' is the time when a good strong healthy buck is looking for a wife." - BS
File: MorU037

Cronie o' Mine, A

DESCRIPTION: "Ye'll mount yer bit naiggie an' ride your wa'sdoun... There wons an auld blacksmith, we'Janet his wife, And a queerer auld cock ye ne'er met in your life." The singer describes the smith's odd haunt, then starts to describe the people of the town
AUTHOR: Alexander Maclagan (1811-1879) (source: Greig)
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: moniker nonballad friend
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 92-95, "A Cronie o' Mine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #119, p. 1, "A Cronie o' Mine" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 551, "The Cronies o' Mine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6027
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(33a), "A Cronie o' Mine," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
File: FVS092

Cronies o' Mine, The

See A Cronie o' Mine (File: FVS092)

Crook and Plaid, The

DESCRIPTION: "O, I'll no hae the laddie That drives the cart or ploo... But I will hae the laddie That has my heart betrayed, He's my bonny shepherd laddie And he wears the crook and plaid." She praises his beauty, his kindness, and his faithfulness
AUTHOR: Rev. Henry S. Riddell
EARLIEST DATE: 1844 (Whitelaw; from tradition in Ford, 1899)
KEYWORDS: love shepherd
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 58-61, "The Crook and Plaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #106, p. 2, "The Crook and Plaid" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 455, "The Crook and Plaid" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
SHenry H617, pp. 45-46, "The Shepherd Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5960
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(111), "The Crook and Plaid" ("If lasses lo'e the laddies, they surely should confess"), unknown, n.d.
Murray, Mu23-y1:039, "The Crook and Plaid," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(45b), "Crook and Plaid," unknown, c.1890"
SAME TUNE:
The Main-spring of Love (per broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:039)
NOTES: Greig: "There is another and older version of 'The Crook and Plaid,' but Riddell's song deserves to hold the field. Christie prints a mixed version." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: HHH617

Crooked Rib, The

DESCRIPTION: Women were created from man's crooked rib which explains "the crooked nature some women are" Like Eve, most women betray their husband. Men claim they can control their wife, but they can't. "From great guns and bad women's tongues, O Lord deliver me!"
AUTHOR: Dan Somers of St Georges, PEI
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: wife humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dibblee/Dibblee, p. 105, "The Crooked Rib" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12455
NOTES: The creation of a woman from a man's rib (note that, in Hebrew, "adam" means "man" as well as being a proper name) is told in Genesis 2:21. There is no hint, in the Bible, that this rib was any more crooked than the others. - RBW
File: Dib105

Crooked Trail to Holbrook, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you hunky punchers that follow the bronco steer, I'll sing to you a verse or two your spirits for to cheer." The singer grumbles about a trip from Globe City (?) to Holbrook, marked by windstorms and stampedes; he's glad to be back home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax, Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: cowboy hardtimes travel storm
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Logsdon 10, pp. 70-73, "The Crooked Trail to Holbrook" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ARIZONIO*
Roud #4037
NOTES: This is item dB30 in Laws's Appendix II.
The notes in the Digital Tradition list this as a descendent of Laws B10 (either 10a, The Buffalo Skinners, or 10b, Boggy Creek or The Hills of Mexico). The similarity in theme is obvious. But cowboys complained a lot; Laws, Roud, and I all regard them as separate. - RBW
File: Log010

Crooked-Foot John

See Long John (Long Gone) (File: LoF287)

Crookit Bawbee

DESCRIPTION: "Oh! whar awa' got ye that auld crookit (penny/plaidie)?" He offers one of gold and "a mantle o' satin" to go with him to Glen Shee. She will only accept "the laddie that gave me the penny." If he is that man "whar's your crookit bawbee?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: courting separation brokentoken
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 25, "The Crooked Bawbee" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrSNB025 (Partial)
Roud #2281
NOTES: Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "Said Mrs Leslie:'A bawbee is a halfpenny, and the term for it goes back to the days of Mary, Queen of Scots. They brought out a coin when she was a baby [Mary because Queen at eight days old - RBW] and the baby's head was on it; you know the Scottish drawl and the language, and by and by baby came to be bawbee.'" - BS
Jean Redpath claims that this song was popular in lowland Scotland, but I can find no field collections. Redpath also points out an item in the Scots Musical Museum (#99, "O whar did ye get that hauver-meal bannock") which may be related. - RBW
File: CrSNB025

Crooskeen Lawn

See Cruiskeen Lawn (File: OCon054A)

Croppies Lie Down (I)

DESCRIPTION: "We soldiers of Erin, so proud of the name, Will raise upon Rebels and Frenchmen our fame... and make all the traitors and croppies lie down." The rebels murder parsons and women but run from soldiers. If the French land they'll lie with the croppies.
AUTHOR: Captain Ryan (Source: Zimmermann)
EARLIEST DATE: 1798 (_Constitutional Songs_, according to Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion death France Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 94A, "Croppies Lie Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 76, "Croppies Lie Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(448), "Croppies Lie Down" ("We soldiers of Erin, so proud of the name"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 22(56), Harding B 11(3852), "Croppies Lie Down"; Harding B 16(253c), "The Soldier's Delight" or "Croppies Lie Down"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tree of Liberty" (tune)
NOTES: According to Robert Kee, The Most Distressful Country, being Volume I of The Green Flag, pp. 98-99, this was "popular among the Orange yeomanry," i.e. the militia forces (not all of them Protestant, we should note) raised by the British to control the 1798 rebellion.
The ascription to "Captain Ryan" is interesting at the least. Obviously there could be several "Captain Ryans" -- but the one mentioned in the histories is one of the two men who tried to arrest Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and mortally wounded in the process (see the notes to "Edward (III) (Edward Fitzgerald)"). - RBW
Moylan: "It was for playing this tune on the pipes that the unfortunate William Johnson was murdered at Scullabogue along with over one hundred others."
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Sean Tyrrell, "Croppies Lie Down" (on "The Croppy's Complaint," Craft Recordings CRCD03 (1998); Terry Moylan notes) - BS
For background on Scullabogue, see the notes to "Father Murphy (II) (The Wexford Men of '98)." None of the sources I've seen attribute the massacre to someone playing a pipe tune, though -- it was based on false information heard about the Battle of New Ross (for which see, e.g., "Kelly, the Boy from Killane"). - RBW
File: Zimm094A

Croppies Lie Down (II)

DESCRIPTION: "In the County of Wexford these rebels did rise." The Orange-men made them retreat. The Vinegar Hill battle is recalled. Esmond, Kay, Harvey and Hay are turned over to General Moore and executed after courtmartial. "Derry down, down, Croppy lie down"
AUTHOR: "Charles Cain, Grenadier in His Majesty's 7th, or Antrim Militia" (Source: Zimmermann)
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution trial Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 26, 1798 - Beginning of the Wexford rebellion
May 27, 1798 - The Wexford rebels under Father John Murphy defeat the North Cork militia
June 5, 1798 - The Wexford rebels attack the small garrison (about 1400 men, many militia) at New Ross, but are repelled
June 21, 1798 - The rebel stronghold a Vinegar Hill is taken, and the Wexford rebellion effectively ended
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 94B, "Croppies Lie Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tree of Liberty" (tune)
cf. "Bagenal Harvey's Farewell" (subject of Bagenal Harvey) and references there
NOTES: Nine rebels were executed including eight courtmartialled. Esmond, Kay, Harvey and Hay were not among them. Dr John Esmonde, Bagenal B Harvey and Harvey Hay are among those "Patriots of 1798" named on the "1798-1898 Irish Memorial" in New South Wales, Australia. (source: "Memorials, Monuments and Miscellany" Vinegar Hill at the OptusNet site)
Zimmermann: "'Down' might have been chosen as a reply to 'up', which was a pass-word of the United Irishmen." - BS
All of the names in this song do indeed belong to figures from the 1798 Rebellion.
Dr. John Esmond, a leader of the Kildare rebels, was a member of the yeomen, making him a deserter. He was indeed executed by hanging; see the notes to "The Song of Prosperous."
Bagenal Beauchamp Harvey (or Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey; I've seen both forms) was the inept and apparently reluctant United Irish commander at New Ross (for details, see "Kelly, the Boy from Killane"). After the battle, he fled, and was eventually tried and hanged on Wexford Bridge (July 1, according to Robert Kee, The Most Distressful Country, being Volume I of The Green Flag, p. 124). Also hanged there was Matthew Keogh, a former British officer who had governed Wexford for the rebels; I would guess he is the "Kay" of the song.
I don't know a Harvey Hay, but there were brothers, Edward Hay and John Hay. John was known to have commanded troops during the 1798 rebellion. Edward did not, and lived until 1826, but it's widely felt that he was involved in the rebellion.
Blaming the slaughter on General Sir John Moore is thoroughly unfair; the atrocities of the 1798 campaign were almost all the fault of his superior, General Gerard Lake (1744-1808). Moore in fact seems to have felt that the best approach to the rebellion was to improve conditions for all. - RBW
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, "Croppies Lie Down" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "1798 the First Year of Liberty," Hummingbird Records HBCD0014 (1998))
Harte: "This is one of several Orange songs written in 1798, all of them ending with the inevitable chant that is still to be heard on the 12th July Orange marches.... 'Croppies Lie Down.'" - BS
File: Zimm094B

Croppy Boy (I), The [Laws J14]

DESCRIPTION: The singer, a young Irish patriot, is arrested. A girl (his sister?) gives evidence against him, and he is sentenced to die. As he is waiting to be hanged, his father denies him, naming him "The Croppy Boy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution
FOUND IN: US(MW,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Laws J14, "The Croppy Boy"
Belden, pp. 283-284, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
Randolph 128, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
Dean, pp. 45-46,"The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 85, "Song of the Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 163, "Early, Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 35, "As I Was Walkin' Down Wexford Street" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 203, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
PGalvin, pp. 23-24, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 40, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmermann 19, "The Croppy Boy" (7 texts, 2 tunes)
Moylan 95, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 188-190, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 318, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
DT 397, CROPPIE2* CROPPIE3*
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 46-47, 511, "The Croppy Boy"
Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 258-259, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
Roud #1030
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Croppy Boy" (on IRClancyMakem03)
Tom Lenihan, "Croppy Boy" (on IRClare01)
Delia Murphy, "The Croppy Boy" (HMV [Eire?] IM-820, n.d.)
Brigid Tunney, "Early, Early, All in the Spring" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 15(73a), "The Croppy Boy," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth b.25(338), 2806 c.9(9), Harding B 11(1423), Firth b.25(508), Harding B 25(449), 2806 b.10(50), Harding B 11(1486), Firth b.26(45), Harding B 11(4389), Harding B 11(746), 2806 b.10(6), "The Croppy Boy"; Harding B 25(447), "The Cropie Laddie's Complaint," unknown, n.d.
LOCSinging, as102550, "The Croppy Boy," H. De Marsan (New York), 1859-1878; also as200580, "Croppy Boy"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Convict Maid" (tune)
cf. "McCaffery (McCassery)" (tune)
cf. "The Sailor Boy (I)" [Laws K12] (tune, per Morton-Ulster 7)
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 39, fn. 18: "In the 1790's those who admired the Jacobin ideas began to crop their hair short on the back of the head, in what was said to be the new French fashion; in 1798 this was considered as an evidence of 'disaffection'."
Zimmermann 19: "In the American versions, the Croppy Boy is betrayed by his sister Mary [see, for example, broadsides LOCSinging as102550 and LOCSinging as200580 and Creighton-NovaScotia 85], or by some vindictive girl, and is sent to New Guinea [see Creighton-NovaScotia 85]." "New Guinea" is an apparent corruption of "New Geneva": "used as a prison and torture house in 1798 [Zimmermann, p. 165]." Being sent to New Guinea does not save the Croppy Boy from being hanged.
Notes to IRClare01 regarding Zimmermann's explaination of the term "Croppy": poet and playwright Patrick Galvin put forward a number of other, equally convincing explanations, which included the practice of punishing convicted felons by cutting off the tops of their ears, and a form of torture applied to rebels known as 'pitch cap'. He suggested that a true explanation probably lay in a combination of these." [For pitchcapping, see e.g. the notes to "The Union." Slitting the ears is mentioned several times in Irish sources, though I don't recall cutting off the tops of the ears being mentioned much. - RBW]
Laws cites O'Conor as a source. O'Conor p. 11, "The Croppy Boy" is not this ballad.
Zimmermann 19, text B, includes the verse
And as I walked down James Street
A pair of painters I chanc'd to meet
'Twas Jemmy O'Brien and Tom O'Neill
For one guinea they swore my life away."
For more about the informer Jemmy O'Brien see "The Major," "Jemmy O'Brien" and "Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet."
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, "Croppy Boy" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "1798 the First Year of Liberty," Hummingbird Records HBCD0014 (1998))
Broadside LOCSinging as102550: 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
I can't help but notice some significant similarities between this song and the actual events of the trial of Henry Joy McCracken: Taken by militia, tried as his father and sister Mary (Ann) looked on, with his father denying all knowledge of his activities at the trial, and with McCracken eventually hanged. For details, see "Henry Joy McCracken (I)." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LJ14

Croppy Boy (II), The

DESCRIPTION: The boy asks to speak to the priest. He will go to Wexford to fight as the last of his family. He asks the "priest" to bless him. The real priest had been captured; this "priest" is a yeoman captain in disguise. The boy hangs at Geneva Barracks
AUTHOR: Carroll Malone (source: O'Conor; Duffy; OLochlainn-More: "said to be [a pseudonym of] Dr James McBurney of Belfast"; compare Hoagland)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Duffy; also Duffy's magazine _The Nation_,: "first published in _The Nation_, 4th January, 1845", according to Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution disguise patriotic clergy trick
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1798 - Irish rebellion
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (7 citations):
OLochlainn-More 41, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmermann 52, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 96, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p.11, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 156-157, "The Croppy Boy"
Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 247-248, "Croppy Boy"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 540-541, "The Croppy Boy" (1 text)
NOTES: Zimmermann 52: "In The Sham Squire, pp. 179-180, W.J. Fitzpatrick [1866] tells the anecdote that inspired this ballad." As quoted by Zimmermann the ballad closely follows the anecdote.
Zimmermann p. 39, fn. 18: "In the 1790's those who admired the Jacobin ideas began to crop their hair short on the back of the head, in what was said to be the new French fashion; in 1798 this was considered as an evidence of 'disaffection'."
Hoagland's date range (c.1855-d.1892?) for the auther has a problem; Duffy attributes the ballad to "Carroll Malone" but publishes the text in 1845. Hoagland's attribution to Carroll Malone has that as a pseudonym for William B. McBurney. The article "William B. McBurney aka Carroll Malone" at the "From Ireland" site (copyright Jane Lyons, Dublin, Ireland) agrees that McBurney is the author, that he published it in 1845 and that he died in 1892. - BS
Until Ben Schwartz submitted his note, I had doubted that this is based on any actual incident, but Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty, p. 343, notes a case of a Wexford woman with 13 children at the start of the 1798 rebellion. Of her nine sons, five died in battle and three were hung, as was her husband; all four of her daughters were present in the camp at Vinegar Hill, and all came home sick with diseases contracted in the camp. Not the same story, but close. - RBW
File: OLcM041

Cross Mountain Explosion, The (Coal Creek Disaster) [Laws G9]

DESCRIPTION: The Coal Creek mine blows up, killing 150 miners. The families grieve and the usual prayers are prayed for the dead
AUTHOR: Thomas Evans (?)
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: mining death disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 9, 1911 - The Coal Creek explosion
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws G9, "The Cross Mountain Explosion (Coal Creek Disaster)"
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 84-85, "The Miner Boys" (1 text)
DT 828, CROSSMT
Roud #844
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek" (subject)
File: LG09

Cross Your Fingers

DESCRIPTION: "Keep in right with Lady Luck, my dear, Find a good luck charm, and keep it near; Love will surely come to you On some lucky day." "Cross your fingers and make a wish, And maybe your wish will come true." Don't break mirrors, keep a horseshoe
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Henry, from Glada Gully)
KEYWORDS: nonballad magic
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 228, "Cross Your Fingers" (1 text)
File: MHAp228

Crossed Old Jordan's Stream

DESCRIPTION: "Good old neighbor's gone along/Crossed old Jordan's stream"; successive verses substitute "mother", "Christian." Chorus: "Thank God I got religion and I do believe/Crossed old Jordan's stream."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1932 (recording, Bird's Kentucky Corn Crackers)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 122, "Crossed Old Jordan's Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CRSJDNST
RECORDINGS:
Bird's Kentucky Corn Crackers, "Crossed Old Jordan's Stream" (Victor 23608, c. 1932)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Crossed Old Jordan's Stream" (on NLCR01)
File: CSW122

Crossing the Plains

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you Californians, I pray ope wide your ears." The singer describes the overland passage to California. The travelers are told what to bring, and warned of troubles. The singer would have gone around the horn if he had known what he now knows
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1854 ("Put's Original California Songster")
KEYWORDS: travel hardtimes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 427-428, "Crossing the Plains" (1 text)
Roud #15538
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Crossing the Plains" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Caroline of Edinborough Town" [Laws P27] (tune)
File: LxA427

Crosspatrick, The

DESCRIPTION: Crosspatrick leaves "for New Zealand, with their families and their wives." Five days out the ship is wrecked by fire. The captain and his wife try to save others. "Out of four hundred passengers and forty of a crew, There were only four of them left."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 18, 1874 - "The most terrible catastrophe of the old year was the destruction by fire of the emigrant-ship Cospatrick, and the consequent loss of over 450 lives, in the early morning of Nov. 18." (source: Illustrated London News, January 2, 1875, as quoted on The Ships List site)
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #167, p. 2, "The Loss of the Kilpatrick" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 32, "The Loss of the Cospatrick" (1 text)
Ranson, pp. 99-100, "The Crosspatrick" (1 text)
Roud #3806
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Loss of the Scotch Patrick
NOTES: There are Bodleian broadsides for at least two other ballads about this disaster. While neither is dated, both broadsides quote news dispatches making it seem that they should be dated 1874.
Bodleian, Firth c.12(104), "The Burning of the Emigrant Ship, 'Cospatrick'" ("To this most heartrending and sorrowful tale"), unknown, n.d.; the chorus begins "The 'Cospatrick' took fire when at sea."
Bodleian, Firth c.12(107), "The Burning of the Emigrant Ship, 'Cospatrick'" ("In '74 we've had some shocking disasters"), unknown, n.d.; the chorus begins "Far out on the ocean, in the darkness of midnight."
Another broadside seems to be a third different ballad but could not be downloaded and verified: Bodleian, Harding B 40(4), "The Burning of the 'Cospatrick'" ("You feeling-hearted Christians wherever that you be"), J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1850-1899 ; also Harding B 19(115a), "The Burning of the 'Cospatrick'" - BS
David Ritchie, Shipwrecks: An Encyclopedia of the World's Worst Disasters at Sea, 1996 (I use the 1999 Checkmark paperback edition), pp. 52-53, devotes many hundreds of words to this disaster. Cospatrick was built in Burma and seems to have spend many years working mostly in the Indian Ocean. Eventually it was taken over by the Shaw Savill Line and used to take emigrants from Britain to New Zealand.
Ritchie reports 429 emigrants were aboard for the final voyage, plus the crew, including the captain's wife and son.
The ship was approaching Auckland, New Zealand, on November 17 or 18 ("accounts differ" on the date, according to Ritchie). Flammables in the forward part of the ship caught fire, the fire pumps could not be worked because they were in the midst of the blaze, and the passengers got in the way of the crew.
It was difficult even to abandon ship; some boats had burned, others overloaded. Only two boats apparently made it away, with 80 people on board. But they lacked food and water, and had no sails. One boat vanished. On the other, it seems, the people aboard were forced into cannibalism. When the boat was finally found by the British Sceptre on November 26, only three men -- the second officer, a quartermaster, and a seaman -- were still alive. Thus the casualty rate was over 98%. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ran099

Crow and Pie [Child 111]

DESCRIPTION: The singer woos a maid encountered in a forest. She spurns him, repeating with each refusal "the crowe shall byte yew". He takes her by force, then taunts "the pye hath peckyd yew." He refuses to marry, give money, or tell his name. All maids take warning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: courting virtue rape
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 111, "Crow and Pie" (1 text)
Roud #3975
File: C111

Crow and the Weasel, The

DESCRIPTION: "The crow he peeped at the weasel (x3) AND The weasel he peeped at the crow."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird animal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 157, "The Crow and the Weasel" (1 short text)
Roud #16856
File: Br3157

Crow Song (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, said the blackbird to the crow, To yonder cornfield I must go, Picking up corn has been my trade, Ever since Adam and Eve was made." Regarding the life of the crow and other birds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: bird floatingverses food
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 275, "The Crow Song" (5 texts, 1 tune, with the "A," "B," and "C" texts being this piece though "B" and "C" texts mix with "The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat)"; "D" is perhaps "Ain't Gonna Rain No More"; "E" is "One for the Blackbird")
Belden, pp. 31-33, "The Three Ravens" (the two fragments in the headnotes are this piece)
BrownIII 156, "Said the Blackbird to the Crow" (5 texts, though "D" and "E" appear mixed, with "D" being this combined with "Bird's Courting Song, The (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat)")
DT, THRERAV6*
Roud #747?
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Crow Song" (Victor V-40149, 1929) Columbia 15449-D [as Al Craver]/Harmony 992-H [as Mack Allen], 1929) (Broadway 8144 [as Lone Star Ranger], c. 1930) [Note: the Broadway recording may be by John I. White rather than Dalhart, as he is also known to have used that pseudonym. - PJS]
Whitey Johns, "Crow Song" (Oriole 1810, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Three Ravens" [Child 26] (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Hidi Quili Lodi Quili" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat)" (lyrics)
cf. "Hilo, Boys, Hilo" (lyrics)
NOTES: Some have thought this a relative of "The Three Ravens." While it's possible that the various by-blows of that austere ballad inspired this, it certainly qualifies now as a separate song. It's more likely to be derived from "The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat)"; the first verse in particular is often found with that song.
Another possibility is that some of the lyrics derive from the sea song "Hilo, Boys, Hilo," which shares quite a few words, but my guess is that the dependence is the other way. - RBW
File: R275

Crow Song (II), The

See One for the Blackbird (File: R275)

Crow Wing Drive

DESCRIPTION: "Says White Pine Tom to Arkansaw, 'There's one more drive I'd like to strike.' Says Arkansaw, 'What can it be?' "It's the Crow Wing River for the old Pine Tree." The loggers leave Bemidji for Brainerd, where they "make some noise."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: logger travel train moniker
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Rickaby 24, "The Crow Wing Drive" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Rick099 (Partial)
NOTES: The relationship between this and the "Casey Jones"/"Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long)" [Laws I16] families will be obvious. Rickaby's informant said it was built out of those elements by White Pine Tom, the singer mentioned in the first line.
Whether White Pine Tom is the actual author or not, the piece clearly was composed by someone familiar with northern Minnesota. Given that the informant, Ed Springstad, was known as Arkansaw, it may have been a local joke.
I have this feeling that there may have been a few more verses than Rickaby printed. - RBW
File: Rick099

Crow-Fish Man (I), The

See Sweet Thing (I) (File: R443A)

Crow-Fish Man (II), The

See Crawdad (File: R443)

Crow, Black Chicken

DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with floating verses: "Chicken crowed for midnight, chicken crowed for day/Along came an owl, and toted that chicken away." Chorus: "Crow black chicken, crow for day/Crow black chicken, fly away/I love chicken pie."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Leake County Revelers)
KEYWORDS: dancing humorous nonballad floatingverses chickens
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 207, "Crow, Black Chicken" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Leake County Revelers, "Crow Black Chicken" (Columbia 15318-D, 1928)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Crow Black Chicken" (on NLCR04, NLCR11, NLCR12, NLCRCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Chickens They Are Crowing" (words)
cf. "It's Almost Day" (words)
cf. "Letter from Down the Road" (words)
cf. "Jubilee" (words)
NOTES: The authorship on this one is up in the air. The headnotes in Cohen/Seeger/Wood read: "Words - NLCR [New Lost City Ramblers], Vol. 4, tune and source text from the Leake County Revelers, Col. 15318." This may mean that the NLCR rewrote the original words, but without hearing the Leake County Revelers' version it's hard to tell. - PJS
I haven't heard the Leake County Revelers version, either, but I have heard Bob Bovee and Gail Heil sing that form, and it is shorter and more "chickenish" than the NLCR text. It would appear that the NLCR reshuffled the verses, then added a couple of floaters (e.g. "Went up on a mountain, Give my horn a blow...") to make a short piece longer. - RBW
File: CSW207

Crowd of Bold Sharemen, A

DESCRIPTION: "It was early in June, b'ys, When we sailed away" with a young skipper and crew, "And a crowd of bold sharemen." Skipper withholds oil until the sharemen threaten to destroy the catch. Skipper threatens to go home until the sharemen threaten to sue.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: bargaining fishing ship sea work ordeal
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 121, "The Crowd of Bold Sharemen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 113-115, "A Crowd of Bold Sharemen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 8, "A Crowd of Bold Sharemen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 58, "A Crowd of Bold Sharemen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6344
NOTES: A shareman shares in expenses and profits.
Greenleaf/Mansfield discusses the codfishery that flourished along the Labrador coast during spring and summer. The "sharemen are usually young fellows trying to get enough money together to buy their own fishing outfits." - BS
File: Doyl3008

Crown For Us All, A

DESCRIPTION: "I had a pious (father/mother/brother/sister) that I once loved dear, He's been gone for many a year, He has lain in his grave for many a day Till the power of God shall call him away. There's a crown for you, and a crown for me, Glory be to God...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad death
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 211, "A Crown For Us All" (1 text)
ST Fus211 (Partial)
Roud #16372
File: Fus211

Crows in the Garden

DESCRIPTION: "Crown in the garden, pulling up corn (x2), Catch 'em, catch 'em, string 'em up and stretch 'em." The marauding crows are condemned; the gardeners who cannot stop them insulted. The world is said to be full of crows -- some of whom seek money, not corn
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: gardening bird work lawyer money gold
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hudson 137, pp. 283-284, "Crows in the Garden" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 314-316, "Crows in the Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CRWGARDN*
Roud #4505
File: LxA314

Cruel Brother, The [Child 11]

DESCRIPTION: A man and woman agree to wed, but fail to ask her brother's permission. As the woman prepares for the wedding, her brother stabs her. She does not name her murderer, but reveals the facts in the terms of her will.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: murder brother marriage jealousy revenge lastwill
FOUND IN: Britain(England (West),Scotland) Ireland US(NE,SE)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Child 11, "The Cruel Brother" (14 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 11, "The Cruel Brother" (10 versions)
SharpAp 6 "The Cruel Brother" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #3, #4}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 431-433, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 171-174, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 5, "The Cruel Brother" (2 texts)
Leach, pp. 78-81, "The Cruel Brother" (2 texts)
OBB 64, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 175, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text)
PBB 32, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text)
Niles 8, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 185-187+344, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 8, pp. 21-23, "The Cruel Brother" (1 text)
DT 11, CRUELBRO*
Roud #26
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Brother's Revenge
Oh Lily O
Lily O
Three Ladies Played at Ball
NOTES: Flanders, in her notes in Ancient Ballads, observes that some scholars have seen the possibility of an incest motif in this song. Possible, of course, since the brother's extreme rage seems unreasonable. But the only real evidence is the last will scene, found in the incest ballad of "Lizzie Wan" -- but *not*, we note, in "Sheathe and Knife," nor is the last will scene in Lord Randall in any way linked with incest. - RBW
Compare the first verse lines of Child 10.H to Opie-Oxford2 479, "There were three sisters in a hall" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is c.1630)
Child 10.H: "There were three sisters lived in a hall, ... And there came a lord to court them all...."
Opie-Oxford2 479 is a riddle beginning "There were three sisters in a hall, There came a knight amongst them all ...." - BS
This item is also found as Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #702, p. 275, but this appears to be simply a greeting rhyme unrelated to the various rather murderous ballads (notably Child 10 and 11) using these lines. Nonetheless the lyric may have been borrowed, since the Opies derive it from Sloane MS. 1489, which must date from the seventeenth century if not earlier (the Opies say 1630. Note that this MS. should not be confused with the famous Sloane MS. 2593, which contains many of the earliest English proto-ballad lyrics). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C011

Cruel Gardener, The

See The Bloody Gardener (File: Pea668)

Cruel Mother, The [Child 20]

DESCRIPTION: A woman is (preparing to be wed, but is) pregnant (by another man). When her child(ren) is/are born, she kills him/them. As she proceeds to the church to be wed, the child(ren) appear to her to condemn her for her act.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: murder pregnancy adultery wedding childbirth burial children accusation supernatural ghost bastard
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(High,Aber)) Ireland US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (39 citations):
Child 20, "The Cruel Mother" (17 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Bronson 20, "The Cruel Mother" (56 versions plus 1 in addenda)
Dixon VI, pp. 46-49, "The Cruel Mother"; VII, pp. 50-52, "The Minister's Dochter o' Newarke" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan2 193, "The Cruel Mother" (7 texts, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #12, B=#3, C=#15}
GreigDuncan8 1910, "Doun by the Greenwood Sae Bonnie O" (1 fragment)
Greig #20, p. 2, ("Doun by the greenwood and by the green") (1 fragment)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 80-93, "The Cruel Mother" (6 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 66-67, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 230-238, "The Cruel Mother" (3 texts (all missing parts of the plot) plus 3 fragments probably of this; 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #21, B=#34}
Eddy 7, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Randolph 8, "Down by the Greenwood Side" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #54}
Davis-Ballads 9, "The Cruel Mother" (4 texts plus a fragment, 4 tunes) Bronson's #35, #48, #43, #44}
Davis-More 12, pp. 81-83, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 167-169, "(The Cruel Mother)" (1 text, from Randolph; tune on p. 403) {Bronson's #54}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 17-20, "The Cruel Mother" (2 texts plus 2 fragments and1 excerpt, 4 tunes) {Bronson's pp. #18, #45, #13, #20}
Creighton-NovaScotia 2, "Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #37}
Greenleaf/Mansfield 6, "Fair Flowers of Helio" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #28}
Peacock, pp. 804-805, "The Babes in the Greenwood" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 5, "The Cruel Mother" (5 texts, 7 tunes) {Bronson's #26}
Mackenzie 3, "The Greenwood Siding" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #19}
Manny/Wilson 56, "There Was a Girl Her Name Was Young (Down by the Greenwood Side-I-O) (The Cruel Mother)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 103-106, "The Cruel Mother" (3 texts)
OBB 22, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 181, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text+1 fragment)
FSCatskills 68, "Down by the Greenwood Shady" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 27, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text)
SharpAp 10 "The Cruel Mother" (13 texts, 13 tunes){Bronson's #51, #55, #42, #44, #17, #32, #46, #40, #11, #10, #52, #30, #41}
Sharp-100E 13, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #31}
Ord, pp. 459-460, "Hey Wi' the Rose and the Lindsay, O" (1 text)
Niles 20, "The Cruel Mother" (2 texts, 2 tunes); also possibly Niles 15, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text, which Niles identifies with Child 21, but the fragment is so short that it could equally be part of Child 20)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 9, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version) {Bronson's #42}
Hammond-Belfast, p. 54, "All Round the Loney-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 28, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #16}
Hodgart, p. 36, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text)
JHCox 5, "The Cruel Mother" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Silber-FSWB, p. 222, "The Cruel Mother" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2495, "There was a Duke's Daughter Lived in York"
DT 20, CRUELMOT* CRUELMO2* CRUELMO3
ADDITIONAL: Emily Lyle, _Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition_, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, pp, 156-157, "[The Minister's Daughter of New York]" (1 text, from a letter from Peter Buchan to William Motherwell); pp. 170-172, [no title], (1 text, in a shorthand notation, again from Buchan to Motherwell)
Roud #9
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Cruel Mother" (ESFB1, ESFB2)
Lizzie Higgins, "The Cruel Mother" (on Voice03)
Thomas Moran, "The Cruel Mother" (on FSB4)
Duncan Burke, Cecilia Costello, Thomas Moran [composite] "The Cruel Mother" (on FSBBAL1) {cf. Bronson's #19.1 in addenda}
Lucy Stewart, "Down by the Greenwood Sidie O" (on LStewart1)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Fine Flowers in the Valley
Three Little Babies
The Lady of York
Greenwood Siding
The Minister of New York's Daughter
Hey My Rose
NOTES: Although this has not been linked with any historical incident, there are a number of cases in history which are at least vaguely similar. One which struck me was the case of Will Darrell, reportedly from 1575 (as told in Peter Underwood's Gazetteer of British, Scottish & Irish Ghosts, pp. 123-124).
Darnell, having gotten one of his sundry mistresses pregnant, brought in a midwife (blindfolding her to conceal the place) to help the mother, then killed the child. The midwife left a deathbed testament, but Darnell was acquitted at trial. Later, when riding a horse, he saw the ghost of the dead baby; his horse bolted and he was killed.
You can believe as much of that as you like; I don't believe much. But it shows that stories like this were circulating.
Some versions, including Child's Q and Creighton's from Nova Scotia, have a secondary folklore motif: The unremovable stain (in this case, of blood on the knife). This is most famous for Shakespeare's application to Lady MacBeth (Macbeth V.i, a part of the play which is more Shakespeare than Holinshed), but it is common in folklore: Compare Asbjornson and Moe's "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," I seem to recall also a story of three drops of blood arranging for their own revenge, though I can't recall the source. We also see it in Child's D text of "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" [Child 14].
Dixon's version (Child's F, taken from Buchan) ends with the mother's suicide, something rare in other versions. The form appears to have been influenced by "The Twa Sisters." I wonder a little if there has not been some rewriting involved. - RBW
Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "All Round the Loney-O" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959)) The Hammond versions have the common form for this ballad of rhyming couplet interspersed with "All round the Loney-O" and "Down by the greenwood side-O." According to Sean O Boyle's notes to the album the version "has been localized by Belfast singers, who identify the Loney with a street called The Pound Loney. The Castle Pound in old Belfast stood here by a boundary river among the trees of the Falls (Hedge) Road; thus giving all features of the song a local habitation." The version survives stripped of all supernatural references as both the (suicidal?) mother and murdered baby "sleep" in the river.
GreigDuncan8 is so fragmentary and broken(?) that it can go a number of places. There are two distinct parts of the text: "Down by the greenwood and by the green, Down by the greenwood sae bonnie O" [almost from Child 20 and "Lady Anne" as a chorus] and "Four-and-twenty bairnies playing at the ba'" [Child 155A and C, and "Still Growing" GreigDuncan6 1222D]. The notes to GreigDuncan8 refer to Child 20 and "Still Growing." Since I have to pick one, I'll take Child 20 because of its sometime "Down by the green wood sae bonnie" and "She spied twa [not twenty-four] boys playing at the ba" [Child 20D]. Since the GreigDuncan8 fragment has lost the story of the boys it doesn't matter that the twenty-four players don't make sense in the context of Child 20. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C020

Cruel Ship's Carpenter, The (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly) [Laws P36A/B]

DESCRIPTION: The carpenter gets the girl pregnant. They meet, allegedly to plan their wedding. He announces he spent the night digging her grave, then murders her. He flees to sea; her ghost follows to demand justice. His crime is revealed, and the man dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1767 (Journal from the Vaughn)
KEYWORDS: murder burial ghost pregnancy betrayal sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland) US(Ap,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (21 citations):
Laws P36A, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter A (The Gosport Tragedy)/The Cruel Ship's Carpenter B (Pretty Polly)"
GreigDuncan2 201, "The Gosport Tragedy" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 64, "The Gosport Tragedy" (3 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more; Laws lists the "A" text as P36A, and the rest as P36B, but "D" and probably "C" are "Pretty Polly (II)")
JHCoxIIA, #17A-C, pp. 73-78, "Pretty Polly," "Come, Polly, Pretty Polly" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 2 tunes; the "A" text is the full "Cruel Ship's Carpenter" version; "B" is the short "Pretty Polly (II)"; the "C" fragment is too short to tell but has lyrics more typical of the latter)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 114-120, "The Ship's Carpenter" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Fowke/MacMillan 70, "The Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 404-406, "The Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 27, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 29, "The Gaspard Tragedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 698-700, "The Gosport Tragedy" (2 texts, but the second goes with "Pretty Polly (II)")
Cambiaire, pp. 74-75, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (Pretty Polly)" (1 text, with the moralizing ending in which the ship sinks but no ghost)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 128-134, collectively titled "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" but with individual titles "Pretty Polly," "Dying Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Oh, Polly!" (6 texts; 5 tunes on pp. 395-398; of these only the "C" text has a ghost; in "D" and "E" there is no ghost but Willie's ship sinks; the others by our criteria are versions of "Pretty Polly (II)")
SharpAp 49, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (21 texts, 21 tunes -- but many of them, being fragmentary, could as easily be classified under "Pretty Polly (II)")
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 36, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 129-131, "The Ship Carpenter" (1 text, long but broken off just before the murder, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 20, "Pretty Polly" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Manny/Wilson 92, "The Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN1429, "In Gosport of late there a damsel did dwell"
DT 311, SHIPCARP* SGIOCRP2*
Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 149, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (reproduction of a broadside page with "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" and "Death of Lord Nelson")
Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, p. 24, "Miss Brown" (1 text, 1 tune, short enough that it might be any of several murder ballads, but some of the material seems characteristic of this song)
Roud #15
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "In Worcester City" (on Voice17)
Sam Larner, "The Ghost Ship" (on SLarner02)
Mike Waterson, "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (on ESFB2)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(267), "Love and Murder" ("In Worcester town, and in Worcestershire"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(1156), Harding B 28(285), Harding B 28(24), "Love and Murder"; Harding B 11(3053A), "Polly Love" or "The Cruel Ship-Carpenter"; Johnson Ballads 458, Harding B 11(3057), Harding B 11(3058), Harding B 11(3056), Harding B 11(49), Firth c.13(205), Harding B 25(1520), "Polly's Love" or "The Cruel Ship Carpenter[!]"; Harding B 15(74b), Firth c.13(290), "The Cruel Ship Carpenter"; Harding B 11(824), "The Cruel Ship-Carpenter"; Harding B 3(33), "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Perjured Ship-Carpenter"; Harding B 3(34), "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Perjured Ship Carpenter"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. esp. "Pretty Polly (II)" (a much-reduced form of this ballad which as now sung has a different plot)
cf. "The Sailor and the Ghost [Laws P34A/B]"
cf. "Pat O'Brien" [Laws P39]
cf. "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B)" [Laws K22] and references there
cf. "Willie Was As Fine a Sailor"
cf. "The Fog-bound Vessel" (parody of this)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Willie and Nancy of Yarmouth
NOTES: Although there is no clear dividing line between the full ballad "The Gosport Tragedy" and the drastically shortened form "Pretty Polly," the latter has now clearly taken on a life of its own. I tend to distinguish them by the presence or absence of the ghost. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LP36

Cruel Sister, The

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

Cruel War is Raging

See The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging) [Laws O33] (File: LO33)

Cruel Was the Press Gang

DESCRIPTION: "Oh! cruel was the press-gang That took my love from me; Oh! cruel was the little ship That took him out to sea; And cruel was the splinter-board That took away his leg; Now he is forced to fiddle-scrape And I am forced to beg."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose)
KEYWORDS: husband wife pressgang injury begging disability
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #196, p. 137, "(Oh! cruel was the press-gang)"
NOTES: Although I haven't met this in any traditional collections, it sounds so traditional that I decided to risk including it in the Index. - RBW
File: BGMG196

Cruel Waves of Huron

DESCRIPTION: "On the nineteenth of May, ninety-four... Was the loss of the schooner Shupe, which I am going to tell." The Shupe is sinnking near Port Huron. A tug, the Thompson, tries to help. The Shupe's crew is saved, but four from the tug die; Dan Lynn survives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (assembled by several informants for Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck drowning
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 19, 1894 - the _William Shupe_ breaks up near Port Huron, Michigan. Five men in a rescue boat are cast into the water. Only Daniel Lynn can be saved. He later is given a congressional medal for heroism (source: Walton)
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 205-208, "Cruel Waves of Huron" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: WGM205

Cruel Were My Parents

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

Cruel Wife, A

See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

Cruise of the Bigler, The

See The Bigler's Crew [Laws D8] (File: LD08)

Cruise of the Calabar, The

See The Calabar (File: HHH502)

Cruise of the Calibar, The

See The Calabar (File: HHH502)

Cruise of the Dove, The

DESCRIPTION: The whaling vessel fits out and sails. The singer names the owners and captain. They visit Peru and Japan. The sailors spot a whale and compete to catch it first. They return home. The singer prepares to make merry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Journal from the Minerva)
KEYWORDS: whaler sea sailor travel
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 13-15, "The Cruise of the Dove" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CRUISDOV*
Roud #1999
File: SWMS013

Cruising Round Yarmouth

DESCRIPTION: Sailor on leave in Yarmouth tells a girl he's a fast-going clipper; he takes her in tow to her house, where he puts his jib boom into her cabin. He drinks a health to the girl, and to the doctor who "squared his main yards -- he's a-cruising again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (recorded from Harry Cox)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a sailor taking shore leave in Yarmouth, meets a young woman. He tells her he's a fast-going clipper; she tells him her hold is free. She looks Dutch, "round at the quarters and bluff in the bow"; he takes her in tow through the town to her house, where she lowers her topsails and he puts his jib boom into her cabin. With his shot-locker empty and powder spent, "I can't fire a shot for it's choked at the vent." He drinks a health to the girl, and to the doctor who "squared his main yards -- he's a-cruising again"
KEYWORDS: disease sex beauty ship bawdy humorous sailor whore
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Bone, pp. 77-82, "Blow th' Man Down" (2 texts, 1 tune, of which the second text may have a bit of "Cruising Round Yarmouth" in it, though that fragment may have been the inspiration for this song)
Roud #2432
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "Cruising Round Yarmouth" (on LastDays)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
While Cruising Round Yarmouth
NOTES: It's worth noting that many Dutch prostitutes worked the streets of British ports. - PJS
File: RcCRYar

Cruiskeen Lawn

DESCRIPTION: "Let the farmer praise his grounds, as the hunter does his hounds" and so on, but the singer prefers his full jug. He reviews the benefits and when death comes to take him he will have death wait while he has "another crooskeen lawn"
AUTHOR: Dion Boucicault
EARLIEST DATE: before 1884 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 15(73b))
LONG DESCRIPTION: Partly in Gaelic. Singer says farmers may praise their grounds, the huntsman his hounds, but he's happy with his cruiskeen lawn (little full jug). He toasts his companions, proposing not to go home although it's morning, and swears that when Death approaches, he will beg off to "have another cruiskeen lawn" Chorus: "Gramachree ma cruiskeen, slanthe gal mavourneen, Erin mavourneen lawn"
KEYWORDS: drink humorous nonballad death party foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
O'Conor, p. 54, "Crooskeen Lawn" (1 text)
DT, CRUSKEEN*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 259-260, "The Cruiskeen Lawn" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 485-486, 511, "An Cruiscin Lan"
Roud #2309
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Cruiskeen Lawn" (on Abbott1)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Cruiscin Lan" (on IRClancyMakem01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 15(73b), "Crooskeen Lawn," Henry Disley (London), 1860-1883
LOCSinging, as102580, "Cruiskeen Lawn," George S. Harris (Philadelphia), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Anderson, My Jo, John" (tune)
cf. "John Anderson, My Jo (I)" (tune)
NOTES: "Cruiskeen lawn" is, in Irish, a "full jug." (source: radiohaha: the online encyclopaedia of contemporary british radio comedy. [Also Hoagland, who renders the title "My full little jug" - RBW]).
Sparling: "Originated among convivial circles of Dublin, but embodies fragments of a much older Celtic song. The tune is clearly not Irish; said to be of Danish origin, and a variant of that which has reached modern times as 'There was a little man and he had a little gun!'" It appears here that Sparling is referring to the melody of Opie-Oxford2 325, "There was a little man, and he had a little gun." - BS
Although apparently the work of a known author, it has quickly been "anonymized"; the several popular books of poetry which include it (Stevenson's Home Book of Verse v. 2, Hoagland) list no author. - RBW
File: OCon054A

Crummy Cow, The

DESCRIPTION: Pat O'Hurry tries to sell his old cow, but has no luck. She refuses to travel further; when he threatens to butcher her, she comes back to life. She costs him dearly in travel expenses. At last he manages to foist off the animal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: animal commerce humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H501, pp. 25-26, "The 'Crummy' Cow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13348
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bigler's Crew" [Laws D8] (tune) and references there
File: HHH501

Cryderville Jail, The

DESCRIPTION: Complaints about prison life. Refrain: "It's hard times in (Cryderville) jail, It's hard times, poor boy." Sample stanzas: "Durant jail beats no jail at all; If you want to catch hell, got to Wichita Falls." "Lice and the bedbugs have threatened my life."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes trial punishment gambling
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 354, "Durham Jail" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 90, "The Durant Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 138-142, "The Cryderville Jail", pp. 142-143, "Po' Boy" (3 texts plus scattered addenda, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSNA 228, "Hard Times" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 887-888, "Hard Times in Mount Holly Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Greenway-AFP, p. 141, "Hard Times at Little New River" (1 text, adapted to mill conditions, but too short to tell if it was a full adaption or just a spur-of-the-moment change)
DT, DRNTJAIL*
Roud #822
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Wise County Jail" (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
Logan English, "Durant Jail" (on LEnglish01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "County Jail (II)" (theme)
cf. "Dawsonville Jail" (subject)
File: LxU090

Crying Family, The (Imaginary Trouble)

DESCRIPTION: Tom is courting Nancy; her parents worry. Old Kate fears that the lovers will have a child who will drown. She tells the young ones, and "They all went crying home, Tom, old man, wife and daughter. Each night the ghost doth come and cries upon the water"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: ghost courting
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Warner 62, "Imaginary Trouble" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, IMAGTRBL*
ADDITIONAL: Robert E. Gard and L. G. Sorden, _Wisconsin Lore: Antics and Anecdotes of Wisconsin People and Places_, Wisconsin House, 1962, pp. 104-107, "[no title; filed under the heading "Yodelings of Champin Raftsmen]" (1 text, source not listed)
ST Wa062 (Full)
Roud #4653
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Nervous Family" (theme: much worry about nothing)
NOTES: This is believed to be the only ballad in which the ghost of someone who never existed appears. One wonders whose achievement is greater -- the ghost's or the songwriter's.
Flanders compares this with item #34 in the Grimm collection, "Clever Else" ("Die kluge Else," from Dortchen Wild, 1819). This is sort of semi-true: In the folktale, Else and her family are paralyzed by fear of a future disaster to a child. But while the gimmick is the same (monomaniacal fears of an improbable and preventable death), the plot is quite different.
Gard/Sorden say that raftsmen sang this "awakening the eches in Witch's Gulch at the Dells" [on the Wisconsin River]. Presumably the echoes sounded like a family crying. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Wa062

Crystal Spring, The

DESCRIPTION: Captain courts his true love; promises to maintain her, mentions his loaded ship just arrived from Spain. She says men are fickle; he promises to be true
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Sharp); the Butterworth version is undated but probably from 1910
KEYWORDS: courting ship promise
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sharp-100E 32, "The Crystal Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 13, "Crystal Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1391
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing)" [Laws P14] (theme)
NOTES: This may well be a fragmentary version of "One Morning in May", but so many elements of the latter song are missing that it could just as easily be an independent song. It does, however, mention a nightingale briefly in the first line. -PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: ShH32

Crystam Stream

See The Crystal Spring (File: ShH32)

Cuatro Palomitas Blancas (Four While Doves)

DESCRIPTION: Spanish: "Cuatros palomitas blancas (x3), Sentadas en un alero (x2)." "Unas a las otras dicen, 'No hay amor como el primero.'" Four white doves perch and tell each other, "'There is no love like the first.'" They (or the singer) prefer kisses to food.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love bird
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 366-368, "Cuatro Palomitas Blancas" (1 text plus translation, 1 tune)
File: LxA366

Cucaracha, La

DESCRIPTION: Recognized by the references in the chorus to "la cucaracha" (the cockroach). The verses may describe the girls in various towns, and the way to court them. The chorus translates, "The cockroach doesn't want to travel because she has no marijuana"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Canciones Mexicanas)
KEYWORDS: drugs bug nonballad courting Mexico foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Mexico
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 289-291, "La Cucaracha (Mexican Cockroach Song)" (1 text plus translation, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, p. 188, "La Cucaracha"
NOTES: Sandburg suggests that La Cucaracha may mean "The Little Dancer," but its natural meaning is "The Cockroach." - RBW
File: San289

Cuckold by Consent, A

DESCRIPTION: A miller intends to sleep with a customer and has his wife put her in the parlour bed for the night. The maid and wife trade places. In the morning the miller tells Jack to sleep with the woman in the parlour bed cuckolding himself "with my own consent"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1675 (broadside, Bodleian 4o Rawl. 566(172))
LONG DESCRIPTION: A maid takes her father's corn to the mill. The miller asks his wife to put her in the parlour bed for the night, intending to sleep with her. The maid tells the wife of the miller's intent and they change places. In the morning the miller tells Jack to sleep with the woman in the parlour bed. At the mill the maid reveals the trick and the miller accepts being cuckolded by his own consent.
KEYWORDS: adultery trick wife miller sex
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1458, "The Jolly Miller" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #7283
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 4o Rawl. 566(172), "A Cuckhold by Consent" or "The Frollick Miller that Inticed a Maid" ("Friends will it please you to hear me tell"), F. Coles (London), 1663-1674
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bed's Making" (tune, per broadside Bodleian 4o Rawl. 566(172))
File: GrD71458

Cuckoo Is A Merry Bird, The

See The Cuckoo (File: R049)

Cuckoo She's a Pretty Bird, The

See The Cuckoo (File: R049)

Cuckoo Waltz

DESCRIPTION: "Three times round the Cuckoo Waltz (x3), Lovely Susie Brown. Fare thee well, my charming girl, Fare thee well I'm gone, Fare the well, my charming girl, With golden slippers on." "Choose your pard as we go round, We'll all take Susie Brown...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sandburg, p. 160, "Cuckoo Waltz" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, p. 136, "Susie Brown" (1 text, a mixed text which has two verses typical of "Cuckoo Waltz" or something like it and two from "Go In and Out the Window")
ST San160 (Full)
Roud #7893
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Joe Clark" (floating lyrics)
File: San160

Cuckoo, The

DESCRIPTION: "The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies; she brings us glad tidings, and she tells us no lies." Many versions are women's complaints about men's false hearts (usually similar to "The Wagoner's Lad/Old Smokey")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1769 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad lament lyric floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (27 citations):
Randolph 49, "The Cuckoo" (4 texts, of which "A" is about half "Inconstant Lover/Old Smokey" verses and "B" never mentions the cuckoo and appears to be mostly floating verses; 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 117-118, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 49A)
Belden, pp. 473-476, "The Unconstant Lover" (3 texts, 1 tune, of which the first is "Old Smokey"; the second mixes that with "The Cuckoo," and the third is short enough that it might be something else)
BrownIII 248, "The Inconstant Lover" (5 texts plus a fragment, admitted by the editors to be distinct songs but with many floating items; "A," "B," and "C" are more "On Top of Old Smokey" than anything else, though without that phrase; "D" is primarily "The Broken Engagement (II -- We Have Met and We Have Parted)," "E" is a mix of "Old Smokey" and "The Cuckoo," and the "F" fragment may also be "Old Smokey")
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 313-314, "The Cuckoo" (1 short text, with local title "Too Wandering True Loves"; the piece, which begins "A-walking and a-talking and a-courting goes I," never mentions a cuckoo and consists mostly of floating material similar to Randolph's; it could well be an "Inconstant Lover" type but is too short to classify; placed here because Scarborough does)
FSCatskills 34, "A-Walking and A-Talking" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 142-144, "The Cuckoo" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 85, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 140, "The Cuckoo" (13 texts, 13 tunes)
Sharp-100E 35, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 38, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
GreigDuncan6 1157, "The Cuckoo" (5 texts plus a fragment on p. 559, 3 tunes)
SHenry H479, pp. 347-348, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 148, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 57, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 110, "The Cuckoo"; 111, "The Fourth Day of July" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 255-256, "[The Cuckoo She's a Pretty Bird]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 121, "The cuckoo is a merry bird" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #475, p. 210, "(The cuckoo is a bonny bird)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 18, "(The cuckoo's a bonnie bird)" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, p. 163, "[Cuathiciag Ghorm]" (1 short text, purporting to be a translation of a Gaelic text of "The Cuckoo")
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 69, (no title) (1 fragment, the single floating stanza "I'll build me a cabin On the mountain so high" that is perhaps most typical of this song)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 79 "The Coo Coo Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 164, "The Cuckoo" (1 text)
DT CUKOO2 CUCKBIRD* CUCKBIR2*
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 193-194, "The Cuckoo"
Maud Karpeles, _Folk Songs of Europe_, Oak, 1956, 1964, p. 44, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #413
RECORDINGS:
Clarence "Tom" Ashley, "The Coo Coo Bird" (Columbia 15489-D, 1929; on AAFM3)
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, "The Coo-Coo Bird" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Charlie Black, "The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird" (AAFS 1389 B1)
Anne Briggs, "The Cuckoo" (on Briggs2, Briggs3)
Mrs. Joseph Gaines, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 832 A1)
Gant Family, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 72 B1)
Maggie Gant, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 66 A2)
Kelly Harrell, "The Cuckoo She's a Fine Bird" (Victor V-40047, 1926; on KHarrell02)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 823 B1/B2, 1935)
Mrs. C. S. MacClellan, "The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird" (AAFS 986 B2)
Jonathan Moses, "Cuckoo is a Fine Bird" (AAFS 3705 A2)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Coo Coo Bird" (on NLCR04, NLCR11)
Lize Pace, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 1437 A1)
Mr. & Mrs. John Sams, "The Coo-Coo" (on MMOKCD)
John Selleck, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 4219 A2)
Vivian Skinner, "Cuckoo is a May Bird" (AAFS 2997 A2)
Pete Steele, "The Cuckoo" (on PSteele01)
John Williams, "Cuckoo Song" (AAFS 4182 A2/B)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(211), "The Cuckoo" ("Come all you pretty fair maids, wherever you be"), J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 11(762), Harding B 15(77a), Harding B 11(1231), "The Cuckoo"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (lyrics)
cf. "Sumer Is I-cumen In"
cf. "If I Were a Fisher" (floating verses)
cf. "The Streams of Bunclody" (floating verses)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
To a Meeting One Evening, to a Meeting Went I
NOTES: Legends about the cuckoo bringing in summer (and infidelity) are common and early.
The cuckoo loves warmth, and so arrives late during migration; it is thus held to signal summer. Certain species of cuckoo also lay their eggs in other birds' nests (whence probably the word "cuckold"), hence their association with lustiness.
The legend is ancient; Alcuin (died c. 804) wrote a piece, "Opto meus veniat cuculus, carrisimus ales," in which spring begs for the cuckoo to come. And Alcuin was English. But he worked in Charlemagne's France, and wrote in Latin, so we cannot prove that the idea was that old in England. But we do have the very old English song "Sumer Is I-cumen In"; showing that the cuckoo legend had made it to England by then; see the entry on that piece for more details on the dating.
Outside England, we find a number of other songs on the theme: Maud Karpeles, Folk Songs of Europe, Oak, 1956, 1964, p. 115, prints "L'inverno e passato," "Oh past and gone is winter, And March and April too, And May is here to greet us And songs of the cuckoo.... May's the month for lovers And songs of the cuckoo" (Italian, from Switzerland), as well as "Kukuvaca," "Cuckoo, cuckoo, sings the cuckoo," in which a girl asks a mower, "Have you cut the grass for me?" (p. 217, from Croatia). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R049

Cuckoo's Nest (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a girl and tells her his inclination lies in her cuckoo's nest. She's shocked at first, but his words are convincing; she consents. (He leaves her with the makings of a young cuckoo.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: Early 1950s (recorded from Jeannie Robertson & John Strachan)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a girl and tells her his inclination lies in her cuckoo's nest. She's shocked at first, but as his intentions are good and his words are convincing, she consents. (He leaves her with the makings of a young cuckoo.) Chorus: "Some like the lassie's that's gay weel dressed/And some like the lassies that's lecht aboot the waist/But it's in amang the blankets that I like best/To get a jolly rattle at the cuckoo's nest" or words to that effect
KEYWORDS: courting sex pregnancy animal bird lover dancetune
FOUND IN: Britain US(SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Peacock, pp. 259-260, "Cuckoo's Nest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 48, pp. 231-233, "The Cuckoo's News" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CUKONEST*
Roud #5407
RECORDINGS:
Sean McGuire, "The Cuckoo's Nest" [instrumental] (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
Jeannie Robertson "The Cuckoo's Nest" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
John Strachan, "Twa and Twa" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cuckoo's Nest (II)" (tune, subject)
cf. "The Magpie's Nest" (tune)
NOTES: Three songs (two erotic) share this tune, which is also a common fiddle tune. "Cuckoo's Nest (I)" and "Cuckoo's Nest (II)" overlap some, but as one is always a ballad while the other is really a lyric song, I've split them. (They're most easily distinguished by the chorus; in (I) the man expresses his preferences in women, in (II) he doesn't.) [Note, however, that Logsdon's version, from Riley Neal, has no chorus. - RBW] Better check out both, though -- and "The Magpie's Nest." - PJS
File: RcTCN01

Cuckoo's Nest (II), The

DESCRIPTION: Lyric song in praise of the female "cuckoo's nest." Behind a thorn bush a man and woman are busy "hairing at the cuckoo's nest," which " isn't easy found"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
LONG DESCRIPTION: Lyric song in praise of the female "cuckoo's nest." Behind a thorn bush a man and woman are busy "hairing at the cuckoo's nest." "It is thorned, it is sprinkled, it is compassed all around/It is thorned, it is sprinkled, and it isn't easy found"; Chorus: "Hi the cuckin', ho the cuckin', hi the cuckoo's nest...I'll gie onybody a a shilling and a bottle o' the best/If they'll ramble up the feathers o' the cuckoo's nest"
KEYWORDS: sex dancetune lyric nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England, Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, CUKOO3
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cuckoo's Nest (I)" (subject, tune)
cf. "The Magpie's Nest" (tune)
NOTES: Three songs (two erotic) share this tune, which is also a common fiddle tune. "Cuckoo's Nest (I)" and "Cuckoo's Nest (II)" overlap some, but as one is always a ballad while the other is really a lyric song, I've split them. (They're most easily distinguished by the chorus; in (I) the man expresses his preferences in women, in (II) he doesn't.) Better check out both, though -- and "The Magpie's Nest." - PJS
Kennedy cites the text in Ford, "The Bonnie Brier Bush," as an offshoot of this. Offshoot it may be, but it's not the same song, and Ford indicates no tune. Kennedy is overreaching. Again. - RBW
File: RcTCN02

Cuddy, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer tells Jock that idleness is the cause of poverty. Now well off, he began with only a cuddy [donkey] and a pack. Finally, he opened a shop, married and had children. "Freens tak my advice ... If a stout heart ye hae ye may climb a stiff brae"
AUTHOR: Thomas Denham (source: Greig)
EARLIEST DATE: 1854 (_The Aberdeenshire Lintie_, according to Greig)
KEYWORDS: virtue work
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig 109, p. 2, "The Cuddy" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 661, "The Cuddy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6088
File: GrD3661

Culling Fish

DESCRIPTION: In August the crew took its dried codfish to Monroe. There was no one at the plant to cull [grade] the fish. The new rules make grading more strict. "According to instructions and the outline in view, There's no 'number one' so [it] must go 'number two'"
AUTHOR: Chris Cobb
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: commerce fishing
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 118-119, "Culling Fish" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9961
File: Pea118

Culloden Field

DESCRIPTION: "The heather bell blooms o'er the dead ... They mark the warrior's gory grave ... Where mouldering in the dust is laid The hero of the plume and plaid"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: battle death nonballad Jacobites
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden Muir ends the 1745 Jacobite rebellion (see the NOTES to "The Muir of Culloden" for details)
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 129, "Culloden Field" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #5780
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Muir of Culloden" (subject) and notes and references there
cf. "Culloden Moor" (tune)
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan1 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1129

Culloden Moor

DESCRIPTION: "Culloden moor, Long wilt thou be remembered ... On thee the clans of Scotland bled for their dear royal Charlie...." "Traitor knaves with bribery base Made death's darts fly fu' rarely, Ah! Scotland lang will min' the place She lost her royal Charlie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: battle betrayal death patriotic Jacobites
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden Muir ends the 1745 Jacobite rebellion (see the NOTES to "The Muir of Culloden" for details)
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 128, "Culloden Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5779
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Muir of Culloden" (subject) and notes and references there
cf. "Culloden Field" (tune)
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: "Learnt from her brother, James Birnie, who probably had it from ... from fifty to sixty years ago." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1128

Cum, Geordy, Haud the Bairn

DESCRIPTION: "Cum , Geordy, haud the bairn, Aw's sure aw'll not stop lang." The woman goes out briefly, leaving the child because she is "not strang." When the child becomes upset, Geordy is unable to calm it, and talks of the weary work his wife must do
AUTHOR: Joseph Wilson
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay); Wilson died 1875
KEYWORDS: mother father children humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 136-137, "Cum, Georfy, Haud the Bairn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3161
File: StoR136

Cumarashindu

DESCRIPTION: The singer is "a dacent policeman, the pride o the Glesca Force." When he meets friends he says "Cumarachandhu." When he passes the boys "in ma bonnie coat o' blue" "they cry as I pass by, 'There goes Cumarachandhu'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: police
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1902, "Cumarashindu" (1 fragment plus a single verse on p. 417, 1 tune)
Roud #13562
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Cumarachandhu
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 text count includes one verse on p. 417. That verse is the basis for the description.
GreigDuncan8: "'Cumarashindhu' is a representation of the Gaelic 'Ciamar a tha si(bh) 'n diugh?' (How are you today?)." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81902

Cumberland and the Merrimac, The

See The Cumberland [Laws A26] (File: LA26)

Cumberland Crew, The [Laws A18]

DESCRIPTION: The crew of the Cumberland, attacked by the CSS Virginia/Merrimac, fight back as best they can, though their shot bounces off the Confederate's armored hull. The Cumberland fights until it is rammed and sunk
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1865 (broadside, LOCSinging sb10061b)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar ship
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
March 8, 1862 - U.S. frigates Congress and Cumberland sunk by the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack). The Minnesota runs aground; had not the Monitor arrived the next day, the Merrimac would have sunk that ship also
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws A18, "The Cumberland Crew"
Doerflinger, pp. 134-135, "The Cumberland's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rickaby 39, "The Cumberland's Crew" (1 tune, partial text)
Dean, pp. 36-37, "The Cumberland's Crew" (1 text)
gray, pp. 162-165, "The Cumberland Crew" (1 text)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 102-103, "The Cumberland's Crew" (1 text)
Ranson, pp. 106-107, "The Cumberland's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 87, "The Fate of the 'Cumberland' Crew" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 113, "Cumberland's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 16-17,244, "The Cumberland's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 24-25, "The Cumberland Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 366, CUMBCREW*
Roud #707
RECORDINGS:
Stanley Baby, "The 'Cumberland's Crew (1)'" (on GreatLakes1)
Orlo Brandon, "The 'Cumberland's Crew (2)'" (on GreatLakes1)
Warde Ford, "The Cumberland crew (The Cumberland's crew)" [fragment] (AFS 4202 B5, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(108), "Cumberland's Crew," Bell and Co. (San Francisco), c.1860; also Firth c.12(72), "The Cumberland's Crew"
LOCSinging, sb10061b, "The Cumberland's Crew," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cumberland" [Laws A26] (subject)
cf. "Iron Merrimac" (subject)
cf. "Jack Gardner's Crew" (tune & meter)
NOTES: To tell this song from "The Cumberland," refer to this text from the broadside version of 1887:
Oh, shipmates, come gather and join in my ditty,
Of a terrible battle that happened of late;
Let each Union tar shed a sad tear of pity
When he thinks of the once-gallant Cumberland's fate.
The eighth day of March told a terrible story,
And many a brave tar to this world bid adieu,
Yet our flag it was wrapped in a mantle of glory
By the heroic deeds of the 'Cumberland' crew."
The first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862, has been called the worst day in the history of the United States Navy prior to Pearl Harbor (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 148).
The Monitor and the Virginia/Merrimack are often referred to as the "first ironclads," that is, the first ships with iron armor. This is absolutely false; Preston, p. 15, reports that France and Britain had fiddled with wrought iron ships as early as the 1840s, but temporarily abandoned the idea because the iron splintered too much when hit by solid shot.
Several things changed the equation. The Crimean War caused such terrific casualties that it became vital to build armored floating batteries, technological progress made metal less brittle -- and the introduction of shell-firing naval guns meant that the old wooden walls were just too vulnerable to fire; a way had to be found to make ships safe against burning. The French were the first out of the gate, producing in 1859 La Gloire, a wooden ship fitted with iron plating (Preston, pp. 16-17). She was ugly and slow, but at least one hot shot could not sink her.
Britain promptly went one better, with Warrior -- the first all-iron warship ever built (Paine, p. 566).
Nelson, p. 3,notes that the combatants at Hampton Roads were not even the first *American* ironclads. The Confederates at New Orleans had tried to build one, the Louisiana (though she was still incomplete when the city fell; McPherson, p. 420), and on the Tennessee front, the Union had built "Pook's Turtles," light ironclads designed for work in shallow waters. They had a lot of problems, but they fought at Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862 (Nelson,p. 183, describes them as the first ironclads in Federal service, and praises their performance, though Woodworth, pp. 76-77, 90-91, in giving details of their activity notes that the light armor of these vessels could not always stop a heavy cannonball). Nelson, p. 144, argues that the very first ironclad in action was in fact the Confederate ram Manasses, which went into action at the mouth of the Mississipi in 1861 (though it wasn't much of an action).
But neither the British nor the French ironclads had ever fired a gun in anger in 1862, and while the American ships had, they had not engaged other ships of the same type. The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first *battle* of self-powered ironclad vessels. What's more, La Gloire and Warrior were basically conventional designs, designed to fight under steam but cross large distances under sail, and both fired standard broadsides. The American designs would be radically different. (In the Confederate case, largely by necessity; Nelson, p. 162, reports that the Confederate navy had concluded that "[t]here was no possibility of building such a ship in the Confederacy.")
From the moment the Civil War began, both sides tried for control of the sea and rivers. The Union, which controlled the American navy, striving to blockade the Confederacy so that it could not sell its cotton or gain raw materials from outside, while the southerners tried to break the blockade.
Given Union naval superiority, the Confederacy had no hope of winning a pitched battle on water. Rather, they had to try to nibble a little bit here and there -- or they had to come up with a superweapon. Holzer/Mulligan, p. 23, reports that the Confederates briefly tried to buy La Gloire or one of its sisters. The French, who still had only a handful of ironclads, weren't selling. The Confederates would have to do it on their own.
They had just the man to arrange it. Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory had not had a very distinguished career in the United States Senate (Hendrick, p. 365), and had had only one year of formal schooling (Hendrick, p. 366) -- but he was creative, and fascinated by ships. He served well enough that he ended up being the only member of the Confederate cabinet to serve the entire war (Hendrick, p. 364).
And where better to do it than in Chesapeake Bay? It controlled the sea approach to both Richmond and Washington. If the Confederates could somehow clear out the Union navy from the bay's outlet near Hampton Roads, it could change the course of the war.
And, in that quest, the Union had given the Confederacy a great gift: the Gosport naval yard in Norfolk, Virginia, its chief naval base. Not only were there naval facilities there, there were even some salvagable ships. When Virginia seceded, the commander of the yard, 67-year-old Charles Stewart McCauley (an alcoholic, according to Nelson, p. 37, and he certainly sounds senile), had feared the Confederates, and ordered a premature and disorderly abandonment of Norfolk (Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 23-24; even Wood-BL, a Confederate officer, says that Norfolk was "hurriedly abandoned by the Federals, why no one could tell"; Wood-BL, p. 98). The one vessel to escape the chaos was the U.S.S. Cumberland, the subject of this song, since she was properly manned and able to sail (Nelson, p. 53)
Not so fortunate was the USS Merrimack (correct spelling). She was one of the newest and strongest vessels in the U. S. navy, having been built in 1854 and commissioned in 1855 (Paine, pp. 557-558; Nelson, p.36, gives her year of commission as 1856). But her engines were incredibly balky; they had been overhauled in 1857 (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 25), and by 1861 were out of commission again -- the main reason she was rotting in port (Nelson, p. 37, says she was "all but disassembled," and adds on p. 141 that "the engine was so bad that the [United States] navy had decided to condemn it". H. Ashton Ramsey, who had been an engineer on Merrimac before the war and then went south to become the new vessel's chief engineer, called them "radically defective"; Nelson, p. 140). The navy tried to rescue the ship (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 60), but McCauley, confused and fearful of provoking the locals, interfered with the repair attempts.
Official Washington made several attempts to get the ship away (this is the primary subject of Nelson, pp. 36-50). But the government did not want to provoke the state of Virginia, which was teetering on the brink of secession. That, combined with McCauley's inept attempt to prevent trouble, eventually gave rise to a situation in which Merrimack was able to sail, but had no crew and no weapons. No one seemed able to figure out what to do from there. An expedition was finally sent to Norfolk, but it arrived just a few hours too late to save the ship or the naval yard (Nelson, p. 50). By then, the (mostly secessionist) workers at the yard had quit (Nelson, p. 51), so the few naval personnel could no longer accomplish any real repairs.
It is just possible that the naval yard could have been saved -- the Cumberland, after all, was in the waters of Hampton Roads, and had enough heavy guns to make any infantly attacker think twice (Nelson, p. 52), and another heavy ship, the Pawnee, was soon to arrive. But McCauley had already ordered the several ships in the yard, destroyed. (When Commodore Pauling of the Pawnee heard about that, he had McCauley relieved; Nelson, p. 55.) But the ships that were destroyed were of relatively little value. It was Merrimack that everyone wanted.
By then, the ship was settling in the water; she too had been scuttled. At this point, confusion in command took hold. Paulding, who had hoped to save the naval yard, concluded that McCauley had given too much away; the yard could not be defended (a debatable point, given the weakness of Confederate forces in the area; Nelson, pp. 63-64). So he ordered its destruction instead.
This was done rather ineptly. Quite a few buildings were damaged or destroyed, but there wasn't enough time to destroy most of the heavy guns (Nelson, p. 56). And, in a blatantly stupid move, Merrimack was one of the things set afire as she sank -- which meant that the rising waters put out the flames before they could reach the lower decks (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 62). Instead of being destroyed, the ship's hull and engines were largely intact (as balky as ever -- Wood-BL says "We could not depend on them for six hours at a time" -- but intact). The ship's rig was gone, and the engines suffered further damage from salt water -- but they could be used. In particular, the propeller shaft remained whole (Nelson, p. 95) -- one of the trickiest thing for the Confederates to fabricate.
"If the federals had simply burned Merrimack as she floated on her waterline, and not scuttled her first, there would have been nothing for the Confederates to salvage. But as it was, the water flooding the hull protected the lower part of the vessel from the flames, and left it virtually intact" (Nelson, p. 95). In a way, the damage actually helped the Confederacy: It was cheaper to rebuild the Merrimack without masts than with. And a ship without masts could mount a heavier broadside and was less vulnerable to damage.
A rebuild was easily undertaken because the attempts to render the yard unusable had been a complete failure. As the officer who occupied it noted, "Only an inconsiderable portion of the property, with the exception of the ships, was destroyed" (Nelson, p. 67). "The U. S. Navy left for the southerners 130 gun carriages and over a thousand guns, from 11-inch to 32-pounders. They left most of the machinery in repairable condition. They left two thousand barrels of gunpowder, thousands of cartridges, thousands and thousands of shot and shells" (Nelson, p. 68). The yard did end up somewhat debilitated, but that was mostly the fault of the Confederates themselves, engineers would complain that the yard had been stripped of both essential equipment and personnel (Nelson, p. 159).
It was quickly decided to rebuild Merrimack. After some discussion, the Confederates settled on a design that "reminded observers of a barn floating with only its roof above water" (McPherson, p. 373). In simplest terms, they cut off the top of the ship right about at the waterline, put a sheathe of iron over it as a deck, then built a small iron citadel, with sides sloped at 36 degrees, on top (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 24). The citadel wasn't the whole ship, but it was all that could be seen at a distance; hence the barn-like apearance.
Armoring the ship proved a major challenge. The major structural element of the armored citadel was in fact wood (several feet of it, running in different directions and of several different types), but this had to be plated with iron -- a difficult item to obtain, since the total amount of iron needed was very large -- nearly 800 tons, according to Holzer/Mulligan, p. 25, or even 1000 tons, accoring to Nelson, p. 109. I've often seen it stated that the Merrimack was plated with rail iron (e.g. Foote, p. 255) -- which gave me the impression that someone covered her sides with sections of track. Not quite -- but the Confederates took up a lot of railroad iron (Nelson, p. 109) and melted it down so the Tredegar Iron Works (the only place in the Confederacy capable of producing the plates) could make the plating. It was a desperate measure that would prove costly later on, as the Confederate rails wore out. And even so, it took months for all the armor to be rolled; the first deliveries were in October 1861, and the last did not arrive until February 1862 (Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 25-26).
The ship almost didn't make it into action; workmen put in long hours, seven days a week (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 69), but the Confederacy was not an industrial nation. (Just to give an illustration of how hard this was for them, there are no photographs at all of Virginia, and no authoritative plans; scholars aren't even sure how many pilothouses she had; Nelson, p. 142).
The problems with creating materials meant that frantic changes had to be made once tests showed that the 1-inch-thick iron plates originally specified were not strong enough; 2-inch plates had to be substituted. Even the Tredegar Iron Works -- the only place in the Confederacy that was up to dealing with all that metal -- had trouble with that; the plates were hard to roll, and the holes for bolts could not be punched; they had to be drilled (Nelson, pp. 112-113). Even transporting the stuff was almost impossible. But Tredegar rebuilt its facilities, and eventually they worked out the transport, too. The designers were constantly fiddling with the design, as well. They even created a new type of rifled gun (Nelson, pp. 109-110). But finally they managed to put her in the water.
She wasn't a healthy ship; her ventilation was terrible, and the citadel on top had no roof except a grating, so it was open to rain; her officers reported that dozens of crewmen were sick on most days (Nelson, p. 195. Her opponent the Monitor was also very bad in that regard; Greene-BL, p. 118, declares that "Probably no ship ever devised was so uncomfortable for her crew"). Still, she floated, and she could fight.
The result was renamed CSS Virginia, but is often (perversely) called the Merrimac (note the different spelling). The confusion is partly the Confederate fault; several of the new ship's officers (including even her commander Franklin Buchannan -- Nelson, p. 180 -- and her executive officer, Catesby ap Roger Jones, who commanded her on March 9) had served aboard her in the U. S. Navy and tended to keep the old name. And some of them misspelled it Merrimac (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 58). According to Nelson, p. 193, the name Virginia didn't take hold until about the time she was relaunched.
Whatever they called her, she had one major advantage. As Foote says, "What she lacked in looks, and she was totally lacking there, she made up for in her ability to give and take a pounding" (p. 255).
Had she taken much longer, Union general George B. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign might have stopped work on her before she even went to sea. Plus her design was wrong: Her displacement had been miscalculated, so that her hull rode too high, exposing the unarmored portions that were supposed to be below the waterline (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 69). Ballast was added, but as she burned shot and coal, she would rise and expose her underbelly. Plus her ram, which was her most deadly weapon, was not attached very securely. She also suffered from having a crew with inadequate sea experience (Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 69-70; Nelson, pp. 180-181, tells how Lt. Wood, of Wood-BL, had to scour army artillery units to find gunners).
It wasn't until March 4, 1862 that the new ship was ready for a shakedown cruise (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 71). Even her guns had hardly been proved -- they were a new design, but her officers has been alotted only 300 pounds of gunpowder to test it! (Nelson, p. 177; Wood-BL, p. 103, reports that at one point on her voyage, her guns would stop firing for fear of wasting powder. To put this powder-pinching in perspective, she would sail with some 18,000 pounds of powder; Nelson, p. 211). But her commander, Franklin Buchanan, decided to make that test run a trial by fire -- though he didn't even tell most of his crew until the trip was underway. This even though workmen had still been on the ship that very morning and much work still had to be done: Her weapons to prevent boarding had not been fitted,she needed shutters over most of her gunports (Nelson, p. 213), and the guns themselves were untested (Nelson, p. 7), her rudder was giving problems, and her internal arrangements were incomplete (Konstam, pp. 16-17).
(We might note incidentally that, technically speaking, Buchanan wasn't her captain; Virginia never had a captain. This is because Buchanan was junior to some other naval officers who had headed south, and who considered themselves more deserving of being ship's captains. The Navy department circumvented this by making Buchanan a commodore; Nelson, pp. 195-196. This made him technically a fleet commander, not a ship commander -- but in practice he commanded Virginia as well as the whole James River squadron. Buchanan's career was full of such contradictions -- he had resigned from the United States navy when he thought Maryland would secede, but it didn't leave the Union. He tried to rescind his resignation, but this understandably was not allowed, so he went to the Confederacy; Nelson, pp. 198-199.)
Bad weather on March 6 and 7 forced Buchanan to wait until March 8 (Holzer/Mulligan, p.72). But when he did, he came out with a bang.
It was quickly discovered that Virginia was hideously hard to handle. One of her officers reported that the best possible speed she could make was five knots (Wood-BL, p. 100), and that was with everything perfect: smokestacks intact and drawing well, the ship level, the crew at full strength. Other estimates vary; Nelson, p. 8, estimates her speed at seven knots before battle damage affected her smokestack -- though a comment on p. 108 implies that her propeller was too high in the water to be very efficient. No matter which calculation is right, she was not fast.
Plus it took her at least half an hour to turn about (Wood-BL, p. 100, says "it took from thirty to forty minutes to turn" -- and it also required a lot of room, because of Virginia's deep draught. Most of Hampton Roads was so shallow that she literally could not turn about. And she drew so much water (22 feet) that she couldn't really maneuver at all in the James River; it was too shallow for her rudder to have much effect (Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 72-73). Plus there were many places in Hampton Roads which were accessible to other ships where she simply could not sail -- to some extent Union ships could avoid her (or at least her ram) by putting a shoal between them.
By comparison, the Monitor, which could make eight knots, could turn in four minutes and fifteen seconds; Nelson, p. 227).
To be sure, the Confederates had other ships in the area -- Konstam, pp. 18-19, lists five other Confederate vessels based in Norfolk and on the James River, two of which, though armed, served mostly as tugs to get the Virginia to where she would fight (Nelson, p. 10); most of the rest would sortie with her. But the five combined mounted only about two dozen guns (the biggest, Patrick Henry, had ten, but was a sidewheel steamer, which made her very vulnerable; Nelson, p. 216); on their own, they were not even as strong as one of the Union blockading ships. They did fight, and take casualties (Nelson, p. 233) and in one case fairly severe damage (Nelson, p. 247); indeed, the Jamestown and Patrick Henry did most of the slight damage to the Minnesota (Nelson, p. 249).. But they were sort of like cavalry raiders hiding behind an infantry screen: more irritant than anything else; they could only fight because, if they had to, they could hide behind the big ironclad. It was essentially the Virginia against the entire Union fleet.
As long as Virginia couldn't be hurt, it hardly mattered. Maybe she couldn't catch the enemy ships, but they could not survive where she was.
When she came out on March 8, there were five major representatives of the Union navy in Hampton Roads: The Cumberland (26 guns, under Captain William Radford), the Congress (52 guns; under Lieutenant Joseph Smith), the Minnesota (47 guns; Captain Gershon Van Brunt), the Roanoke (42 guns; Captain John Marston, though her engines were temporarily disabled; Nelson, p. 234), and the St. Lawrence (50 guns; Captain H. Purveyance) (for the ship's armaments, see Holzer/Mulligan, p. 73; for their skippers, Konstam, p. 22). Roanoke and Minnesota were in fact sisters of the Merrimack (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 58. Nelson, p. 73, notes the irony that Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory was chair of the Senate committee which approved these ships, and had been one of the senators most responsible for their construction). Many of them had been on blockade duty for quite a while; Nelson, p. 11, says that Cumberland and Congress had been at Hampton Roads since at least November.
The ironclad's first shots went into Congress, which was closest (Nelson, p. 14), but Virginia fired on her only in passing. She was heading for the Cumberland, which had been laid down in 1826 and finally finished in 1842 as a 50-gun frigate; she was razeed (i.e. had her upper deck taken off) in 1856 and converted to a 24-gun sloop-of-war (though the guns were of heavier weight than those of the Congress, making her potentially more deadly to the Virginia; Nelson, p. 14). She was exclusively a sailing ship; without engines (Paine, p. 127) -- and there was no wind on the day of the Battle of Hampton Roads (Nelson, p. 236), so she was effectively unable to move. Indeed, both Cumberland and Congress were thought so vulnerable that tentative orders had been given to withdraw them from Hampton Roads (Nelson, p. 11).
When the Virginia came out, Cumberland was in bad shape to fight -- it was washing day (Hoehling, p. 65, Nelson, p. 12), and her captain William Radford was away on a court-martial board at the time, leaving the ship in the hands of Lieutenant George U. Morris (Hoehling, p. 66).
Hoehling, p. 67, says that 121 men died on the Cumberland -- roughly a third of the ship's crew of 376 (Nelson, p. 239).
Still, she did most of the damage to the Virginia. The ironclad's guns tore Cumberland to shreds, but then the Confederate ship decided to ram. The big blade tore a fatal hole in the Cumberlnd, causing her to sink quickly, with her flag famously still flying. She almost took the Virginia with her; the ship rocked so violently when the ram went in that it nearly suberged the ironclad's nose (Nelson, p. 18), and one Federal officer thought he could have sunk her simply by dropping an anchor onto her as Cumberland went down (Nelson, pp. 229-230). But Captain Buchanan had been clever; he had ordered the engines reversed before impact (Nelson, pp. 14, 18), and she was able to pull free.
Wood-BL, written by a man who served on the Virginia during the fight, describes her end on p. 101: "[T]he Cumberland continued to fight, though our ram had opened her side wide enough to drive in a horse and cart. soon she listed to port and filled rapidly. The crew were driven by the advancing water to the spar-deck, and there worked her pivot-guns until she went down with a roar, the colors still flying. No ship ever fought more gallantly."
Greene-BL, telling of arriving in Hampton Roads (without a pilot, so great was the hurry to get to the battle site) reports, "Near us, too, at the bottom of the river, lay the Cumberland, with her silent crew of brave men, who died while fighting their guns to the water's edge, and whose colors were still flying at the peak."
As it turned out, that heroic fight was not without its effect. Cumberland's earlier broadsides had done no damage (Nelson, p. 14, says that a hundred heavy guns were fired at Virginia without causing her any harm), but the collision tore off the Virginia's ram (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 87), and the shots fired by the crew after they were rammed caused much harm to the Virginia's upper works -- including her smokestack (Nelson, p. 229), further reducing the Confederate vessel's speed (since it reduced the draw through her furnaces; "after the loss of the smoke-stack, Mr.Ramsey, chief engineer, reported that the draft was so poor that it was with great difficulty he could keep up steam" -- WoodBL, p. 103).
Hoehling, p. 68, adds that her engineers noted structural problems as well, incluing loose plates and broken beams. Nelson, p. 230, reports that several of Virginia's guns were damaged by the three broadsides Cumberland fired after being mortally wounded. On p. 255, Nelson adds this catalog of damage which she had sustained by the end of the day: her surgeon would count 98 dents in her ironworks (though the yard would list the number as 97, according to Nelson, p. 301, with only six of her outer plates of iron broken and none of her inner plates); her flagstaff was down, her "less substantial gear ha been annihilated," and her bow timber was twisted and leaky as a result of the loss of the ram
The damage was significant but did not in any way threaten Virginia's buoyancy; there was no reason for her to give up the fight. She turned to destroy the USS Congress. The Federal ship was handled very badly -- apparently her captain ran her aground on purpose (Hoehling, p. 66) to save her from being rammed. But that made her almost useless offensively: Even without engines, she was more maneuverable than Virginia and might have been able to "cross the T" on the Confederate vessel (though Nelson, p.12, notes that most of her veteran sailors had been paid off; it might have been hard for her inexperienced crew to handle her in battle). Instead, she had made herself a big fat target, and was unable to fire her broadside at the Confederate ship (Paine, p. 119).
The Confederates happily took advantage. The "crossed the T" on Congress, pouring their fire into her stern (Nelson, p. 237). Eventually, after her captain had been killed, the Congress surrendered (Nelson, p. 238), but because she was aground in shallow water, Virginia could not take her in tow. Total casualties on the Congress were 136 killed, wounded, and missing out of 434 aboard (Nelson, p. 239).
Shore batteries continued to fire on Virginia after the Congress hauled down her flag (Nelson, p. 243, though he notes that the Federals actually caused as many casualties among their own surrendered sailors as the enemy), and Buchanan was injured while firing back at them; he would not be aboard for the next day's big fight (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 87). The Confederates would also claim that Congress fired after putting up the white flag (Nelson, p. 244, though he thinks the claim false). Buchanan then orderered hot shot to be fired into the Congress, setting her afire (Wood-BL,p. 102); she blew up in the night (Hoehling, p. 68, says he did this in response to being wounded; he decided to take revenge. But destroying the Congress was reasonable; if he did not destroy her, the Federals were better equipped to take her away than the Confederates. His only fault was in destroying her before the sailors got off).
Having dealt with the two weakest vessels in the blockade, Virginia then turned to deal with the Minnesota, which had also gone aground. But her extreme draught of 22 feet kept her from reaching the Minnesota, so Virginia headed back into port to prepare to fight the next day. Overnight, strenuous attempts were made to free the Minnesota, but she moved only a short distance before getting stuck again. There was every reason to think that the Virginia could destroy her the next day. There was panic in Hampton Roads, in Newport News, and in Washington once word arrived by cable -- Secretary of War Stanton, who was prone to fits of near-insanity, started sending telegraphing "the sky is falling" messages to cities all along the East Coast (Nelson, p. 264).
Except that, overnight, the Monitor arrived an changed everything. The Monitor arrived at Hampton Roads the night of March 8/9, and took position to protect the grounded Minnesota. Small as it was, it inspired little confidence in the Federal naval officers (Hoehling, p. 73). Events were to prove them wrong.
Early in the war, the Union was confident in the strength of its navy; it researched ironclads, but did very little about constructing seagoing iron ship. They started to have second thoughts, according to Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 126-127, when the Trent affair made it possible that there might be war with Britain. The Americans knew perfectly well that their wooden walls couldn't fight Warrior and her sisters.
When word came of the building of the Virginia, the urgency increased. There were, at that time, only two serious designs on the table, which would later become the New Ironsides and the Galena (McPherson, p. 374; Konstam, p. 20. For the latter disastrous design, see the notes to "Old Johnston Thought It Rather Hard"). New Ironsides (which in some ways resembled the Virginia, save that the armored citadel covered the entire hull) was a successful design, but could not be ready in time. Galena also probably would take too long. But Cornelius Bushnell, the shipbuilder on the Galena, had called in the brilliant but cantankerous Swedish inventor John Ericsson to look over his designs (the Navy board had not quite trusted the Galena's stability, and demanded more calculations, which Bushnell could not perform but Ericsson could; Nelson, p. 102-103), and it turned out that Ericsson had his own easy-to-build ironclad concept on the shelf -- he had designed it for the French in the Crimean War, but after that war ended, Napoleon III lost interest (Nelson, p. 104).
After complicated machinations, the navy department ordered the construction of the Monitor (Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 26-29; Nelson, p. 146, notes that, despite the wrangling, the urgency was such that the contract was signed only eight days after Bushnell talked to Ericsson. The flip side is, the contractors were on the hook if the ship failed; the navy would only pay if she proved a successful design; Nelson, pp. 150-151. The Navy's delays in paying the amounts it had promised caused some construction delays; Nelson,p 188).
The Monitor was in many ways the weakest of the three designs; it was to prove almost unseaworthy (with only 18 inches of freeboard -- that is, height above water -- waves could easily swamp it; Konstam, p. 21), and it involved so many new ideas that naturally some of them failed to work. The pilothouse would prove severe weakness; it was almost too small for the three sailors it needed to hold (captain, pilot, and helmsman), and yet it was large enough that the guns could not be fired near it; her internal communications systems easily broke down (Greene-BL, p. 115). Many changes would be made in future designs of this type.
But Ericsson claimed it could be built in ninety days. He was close to right; construction was started October 25, 1861, and she was launched 93 days later (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 30. Nelson, p. 146, states that claim was that she could be finished in a hundred days. Presumably one estimate counts the time needed to write the contract, the other does not. Nelson's count on p. 190 is that it took 118 days from contract signing to launch, or 105 working days. Clearly not what was promised -- but still pretty amazing.).
If the Virginia looked like a barn, the Monitor was the "tin can on a shingle" (Catton, p. 201): "A heavily armored turret carrying two 11-inch guns... on a long, armored hullthat had no more than a foot or two of freeboard; there was a little knob of a pilothouse forward and a smokestack aft, and nothing more."
There are a lot of what-ifs about the battle of the two ironclads. Neither ship was finished, and at the time they met, Virginia was both slower (due to the damage to her stacks) and less potent (due to the loss of her ram) than before the action against the Cumberland.
The situation on Monitor was similar. The ship itself was intact, but a lot of rough edges were left (literally -- e.g. the edges of the gunholes in the turrets had not been smoothed; Nelson, p. 188). In addition, the crew was inexperienced; it had been decided to take only volunteers, and few of the men aboard had enough service time to rate even the designation of Ordinary Seaman (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 32; Konstam, p. 22).
Plus the ship had run into a storm on the way to Hampton Roads (the same storm that had delayed the Virginia's sortie), which almost caused the Monitor to go under. The heavy seas had started to flood the ship, the smokestacks poured water into the engineering spaces, and the ventilators failed in the wet (Greene-BL, pp. 112-113. Ericsson, against the advice of experienced seamen, had insisted on vent tubes that didn't extend far enough above the water; Nelson, p. 23). As a result, the blowers failed as the belts got wet, water hit the fireboxes, the engine started leaking fumes, and the pumps went out. (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 41, say that the entire operation of the ship depended on the ventilation system, and it proved insufficient for the task. Improved designs would eventually largely cure these problems, but of course the Monitor was the first of its kind. In warmer weather, the bad ventilation would also cause the ship to become almost unendurably hot; Holzer/Mulligan, p. 49).
The crew, seasick and breathing bad air, ended up extremely unwell and barely kept the ship afloat, so they were exhausted going into the big battle (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 33). Finally, the armament of their ship was not what was wanted. This was not what Ericsson had wanted; his original proposal was for two short 15 inch guns, but these were not available and were considered too big for the turret anyway; Nelson, pp. 222-223. Ericsson's next proposal was for 12-inch guns; none were to be had. They settled for 11-inch guns -- and even those had not been tested; the ship was ordered to fire undersized powder charges (15 pounds instead of thiry), significantly reducing the penetrating power of her guns (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 31) -- the more so since her cannon were not rifled (Nelson, p. 223). This may have cost her her chance at outright victory; Wood-BL, p. 103, reports that shots at point-blank range from the Monitor "forced the side in bodily two or three inches." With a full charge of powder, it is possibly that some might have penetrated.
The flip side is, the Confederate cannon had no solid shot to fire (another consequence of the inadequate industrial facilities of the Confederacy; Nelson, pp. 177-178), and might have cracked the Monitor had she been able to fire shot rather than shell.
There were also command and control problems on Monitor. Except when the gun ports were opened, the turret crew of the Monitor had no way to view the outside world. They had to fire and then ask the crew in the pilothouse whether they had hit. (Ericsson's plan had been to leave the gun ports open and rotate the turret away during reloading; Nelson, p. 274. But the turret machinery proved sticky enough -- the seawater let in by the storm had damaged it; Nelson, pp. 274-275 --that the crew eventually gave up trying to start and stop it, and just left it rotating, firing when the Virginia was in sight. There was little though of really aiming the thing; they just relied on the fact that they were close enough to be almost sure to hit; Nelson, p. 279) And the speaking tube connecting the turret to the pilothouse either didn't work or was damaged, so the turret crew had to keep sending runners forward (Holzer/Mulligan, pp. 44-45; Nelson, p. 271).
Aiming was a problem for other reasons. Because the turret was closed off, they had no way of knowing where the guns were pointing relative to the axis of the ship; they had chalked markings on the floor, but these were soon rubbed off (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 45).
On March 9, the Virginia, now commanded by executive officer Catesby ap Roger Jones (the nephew of Thomas ap Catesby Jones, who had occupied California during the Mexican War, and an ordnance expert highly esteemed by both sides; Hoehling, p. 72), headed back for the Minnesota. At first the Virginia tried to attend to both Minnesota and Monitor, but finding the Monitor much harder to deal with, the Confederate ship quickly gave the Monitor her full attention.
It was quickly evident that neither ship had weapons capable of breaching the other's armor. At best, they might get a ball into a firing shutter, or maybe get a lucky hit below the waterline or at a vulnerable seam or the like. The Virginia tried to ram (though she no longer had her ram beak), but the Monitor was much faster and more maneuverable; the impact was trivial (Hoehling, p. 76). So the two ships did little except throw iron at each other for several hours.
In the case of the Virginia, she soon gave up on firing at the Monitor's turret and started firing on the pilothouse. That was too small a target, though, so she decided to go back to hitting at Minnesota -- only to run aground (Nelson, p. 281). It was a dangerous fix; if the Virginia couldn't move, Monitor could finally pick a spot to attack her. Fortunately for the Confederate ship, the Union officers did not choose wisely (Nelson, p. 282). The Confederates almost burst their boilers, but they finally worked the Virginia free (Nelson, p. 283). After that, the Virginia stopped worrying about Minnesota and went back to slugging at the Monitor. She made an attempt to ram, despite having lost her ram bow, but the only real effect of this was to make the leak in her bow worse (Nelson, p. 285).
Eventually a lucky shot from Virginia hit the Monitor's pilothouse, injuring commander John Worden though it luckily did not affect Monitor's steering (Nelson, pp. 288-289). (Incidentally, there was a sort of a "Brave Wolfe" moment in the battle; Worden was bruised and temporarily blinded by the debris, and had to ask, "Have I saved the Minnesota? Told he had, and that the Virginia was leaving, he declared, "Then I don't care what happens to me." See Greene-BL, p. 117. But he would live, though he carried metal in his face for the rest of his life, and he also recovered his sight -- at least in one eye; Nelson, p. 341).
Given her communications problems, it took some time for the exec to make his way from the turret to the front; as a result, the ship backed away from the fighting for half an hour. Confederates sometimes claim victory in the battle on this basis (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 88). But Monitor was still functional, and the retreat would probably have been temporary had Virginia tried to continue the fight.
But the battle was over. The Virginia made one more run at the Minnesota, but then Lieutenant Jones talked to his officers and decided to head for home (Nelson, pp. 290-291); safer, in her case, to spend the night in port -- and to refill her coal bunkers and shot lockers; the more she used up, the higher she rose, and her armor ended not much below the waterline even when she was full. After another day without refilling, she would be very vulnerable. This led Union newspapers, which claimed she was towed from the battle (which she was not), to assert victory (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 93).
You still see occasional claims that one ship or the other "won" -- e.g. Mabry Tyson's article in Holzer/Mulligan claims victory for the Virginia (p. 109). But Tyson is the great-grandson of Catesby ap Roger Jones; his is hardly an unbiased view!
From a pure tactical standpoint, it was a draw (unless you count the damage the Virginia did to the Minnesota during the engagement, which was fairly severe -- she had briefly been on fire, and her crew was exhausted and her ammunition nearly gone; Hoehling, p. 79). Neither ship could damage the other significantly (men were stunned if they touched the armor when it was hit -- Hoehling, p. 77 -- but eventually learned not to do that). The Monitor suffered no real damage, and the damage to the Virginia was almost all from the Cumberland, so they were well-matched. A case could be made that, had the Virginia met the Monitor on the first day, she might have won (Monitor's armor stopped cannonballs, but would not be enough to stop Virginia's ram if it hit home straight-on, and Monitor certainly didn't have the reserve buoyancy to survive such a blow!). Or you might claim the Virginia won "on points": although both ships withdrew, the Monitor withdrew first.
That, though, is like claiming Germany won the Battle of Jutland because they sank more ships: The latter part of the claim is true but doesn't mean anything. Strategically, the Battle of Hampton Roads was a clear Union victory; Virginia could not clear the Roads of Federal shipping, and while Monitor could not stop blockade runners, she could guard the faster frigates that could. And, over the following months, additional ironclads would support her. For Virginia, it was win in March or not at all -- and she didn't win in March. Due, in no small part, to the damage inflicted by the Cumberland .
Nelson, p. 295, cites Jones's report on damage to Virginia: "Our loss is 2 killed and 19 wounded. The stem is twisted and the ship leaks. We have lost the prow, starboard anchor, and all the boats. The armor is somewhat damages; the steam pipe and smokestack both riddled; the muzzles of two of the guns shot away. It was not wasy to keep a flag flying. The flagstaffs were repeately shot away." Nelson adds: "Virtually all of the damage and casualties occurred on the first day of fighting. Monitor had inflicted alost no injury at all."
Nelson's conclusion is that both Jones of Virginia and Greene of Monitor were right to break off the fight, even though it raised questions about their characters (Nelson, p. 297). Virginia really needed time in dry-dock to replenish and to make minor fixes; Monitor was in better shape, but the crew was bone-weary and there were hardly enough officers left even to stand watches -- a major concern with a scratch crew.
The Confederates probably thought Virginia would be back in service soon. Certainly it would have taken only a little while to patch up her leaks. But the Virginia spent most of a month in dry dock, where her damage was repaired, her ram replaced, and some of her more glaring problems remedied, including the fitting of some additional armor near the waterline (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 76; Nelson, p. 308) -- though this cost her another knot of speed (Wood-BL, p. 105), and left her engines even more overburdened than before; the engineer now said they could be relied on for only a few hours (Nelson, p. 308).
Now commanded by Josiah Tattnall, Virginia made one more brief sortie on April 10/11, with some officers contemplating a harebrained scheme to try to board the Monitor (Nelson, pp. 310-311), but by this time the Monitor had been joined by another ironclad, Naugatuck, and in essence the two Union ships stood guard while the rest of the Northern ships fled. The two sides didn't really engage, and the Virginia eventually headed back to base (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 78). According to Nelson, p. 313, Tattnall commanded Virginia for 45 days, and she spent 32 of them in dry-dock or under repair, though she made a total of five trips toward Hampton Roads (the others were even less eventful than the sortie of April 11). Mostly she just made her men miserable, since living conditions were terrible and steam had to be kept up at all times to allow her to respond quickly in the event of Union action.
In May, as Union general George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac approached Richmond during the Peninsular campaign, the Confederates decided (almost certainly correctly) that they had to scrape up every available man to defend the city. The division defending Norfolk was taken north of the James on May 3 (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 79). The Virginia for the time being stayed at Norfolk, but now she was vulnerable to being captured from land. At the very least, she had to be kept from Federal hands.
It was Abraham Lincoln himself who ordered federal troops to make a move on Norfolk on May 9 (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 90). When the last Confederate forces pulled out, no one even told the Virginia's commander (Wood-BL, p. 106; Nelson, pp. 317-318).
Foote, p. 415, notes that the Confederates made desperate attempts to take the Virginia up the James River (the only other alternative being a death-or-glory attack on the Federal blockade). They lightened her enough to expose several feet of unarmoured hull. But then came word that conditions on the James had changed; although the ship had been lightened enough that she drew "only" 18 feet, which was supposed to be sufficient to get her to within 40 miles of Richmond (Nelson, p. 318), conditions had changed and she would have to work her way up a channel only 15 feet deep. That was impossible (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 81; Wood-BL, p. 107), and there was no time for more lightening anyway.
Tattnall, understandably upset, thought that the pilots were cowards who had concocted their story to keep the ship from battle.(Nelson, p. 319). Lightening ship meant that she would be floating with her armor deck above water level. With her hull exposed, Virginia could no longer fight as an ironclad, ruling out the death-or-glory ride.
The only remaining alternative was to scuttle her. After only three months afloat, and two months of active serve, she was -- for the second time -- set on fire on May 11, 1862 (Wood-BL, p. 107, tells of being one of the last two men aboard, and of setting her afire). And the Confederates did what the Union navy had not done: They successfully destroyed the hull of the Merrimack. She would rise no more. Her second commander, Josiah Tattnall, was savaged in the press and a preliminary court of inquiry, and demanded a court-martial, which acquitted him (Wood-BL, pp. 107-108; Nelson, p. 344).
After Virginia was out of the way, Monitor was taken up the Potomac for various improvements (Nelson, p. 323). She then was ordered to Wilmington, North Carolina. Once again there was bad weather along the way (Nelson, p. 324). The Monitor sank in a storm at the end of December 1862 off Cape Hatteras (Holzer/Mulligan, p. 51). Her wreck has of course been discovered (e.g. Delgado, pp. 117-119), and portions are being brought to the surface to highlight a museum (Holzer/Mulligan in fact was inspired by the opening of the Mariner's Museum; pp. xiii, xviii).
Nelson, p. 339, makes an interesting point about this song and the whole fame of the Battle of Hampton Roads: It became a household name simply because of the timing. Had Monitor arrived on any day other than the day it did, there would have been no battle (had it arrived, say, a month earlier), or a likely draw with no Union ships sunk (had it arrived a day earlier), or a complete Union fiasco (had it arrived even one day later). Hanpton Roads became famous only because the Monitor arrived exactly when it did, like the cavalry coming to the rescue (to use Nelson�s metaphor).
Despite Monitor's poor sea qualities, there was a rush to build monitors around the world. Jane's-WWI, pp. 63-64, lists ten named monitors (including two christened Erebus and Terror) and fifteen numbered monitors in service with the British navy in World War I, and p. 314 lists eight that were lost during the War or in the operations in Russia in 1919. Marshall-Encyclopedia, entry on the Florida, says that the U. S. Navy built its last class of monitors in 1901, with one of them not decomissioned until 1939. But they were hardly ships that John Ericsson would have recognized. The ones I've seen all had large upperworks, and in most of the British examples, the turret was raised high above the waterline, and the ships had masts. They were monitors only in the sense that they had very little freeboard.
And I never heard of any of those twentieth century monitors doing anything useful. Monitor included many ideas which would be very useful in future warships -- the turret being the most important -- but the ships themselves were just too problematic. And their low profiles, which made them harder to hit with cannon, would become nearly useless once self-propelled torpedoes were invented.
The Cumberland, like the Monitor, has been rediscovered. Delgado, p. 115, notes that she was found in 1980. Unfortunately, she is in shallow water, and souvenir hunters did a great deal of damage before serious efforts were made to protect the wreck. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb10061b: 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
Bibliography

Catton: Bruce Catton, Terrible Swift Sword. (being the second volume of The Centennial History of the Civil War), Doubleday, 1963 (I use the 1976 Pocket Books edition)
Greene-BL: S. Dana Greene, "We thought we had gained a great victory: In the 'Monitor' Turret," article in Clarence C. Buel and Robert U. Johnson, editors, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, four volumes, 1888. For convenience of transport, I used the version of the article printed in the abbreviated one-volume edition "edited" (read: hacked down almost to uselessness) by Ned Bradford, 1956; page references are to the 1979 Fairfax Press edition. Greene was the executive officer of the Monitor and commanded the turret in the early stages of Hampton Roads, then briefly commanded the whole ship. (He notes ironically that Monitor had five captains, but he was her only executive officer; p.111).
Delgado: James P. Delgado, Lost Waships: An Archaeological Tour of War at Sea, Checkmark, 2001
Foote: Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Random House, 1958
Hendrick: Burton J. Hendrick, Statesmen of the Lost Cause: Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet, Literary Guild of America, 1939
Hoehling: A. A. Hoehling, Shipts That Changed History, 1992 (I use the 2007 Barnes & Noble edition)
Holzer/Mulligan: Harold Holzer and Tim Mulligan, Editors, The Battle of Hampton Roads (a collection of nine essays; Fordham/Mariner's Museum, 2006)
Jane's-WWI: Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I (1919; I use the 1990 Studio Editions reprint with modern foreword by Captain John Moore, RN). Not entirely accurate, but the best in-one-place catalog of naval vessels serving c. 1918.
Konstam: Angus Konstam, Hampton Roads 1862: First Clash of the Ironclads, Praeger, 2004
Marshall-Encyclopedia: Chris Marshall, editor, The Encyclopedia of Ships (Barnes & Noble, 1995, based at least in part on an Italian original). Silhouettes with very brief descriptions. Most useful for finding ship's specifications.
McPherson: James M. McPherson, The Battle Cry of Freedom (The Oxford History of the United States: The Civil War Era; Oxford, 1988)
Nelson: James L. Nelson, Reign of Iron: The Story of the first Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merimack, Perennial, 2004
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, Ships of the World (Houghton Mifflin, 19970
Preston: Antony Preston, Battleships, Gallery, 1981
Wood-BL: John Taylor Wood, Colonel, C.S.A., "The battle was a drawn one: The first fight of iron-clads," article in Clarence C. Buel and Robert U. Johnson, editors, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, four volumes, 1888. For convenience of transport, I used the version of the article printed in the abbreviated one-volume edition "edited" (read: hacked down almost to uselessness) by Ned Bradford, 1956; page references are to the 1979 Fairfax Press edition. Wood was a lieutenant on the Virginia before joining the Confederate army.
Woodworth: Steven E.Woodworth, Nothing But Victory: The Army of the Tennessee 1861-1865, Vintage, 2005

Last updated in version 2.5
File: LA18

Cumberland Gap

DESCRIPTION: Stories of the settlement of Cumberland Gap. Texts may have a variety of verses, about exploration or the Civil War. The chorus is diagnostic: "Lay down boys and take a little nap; (Fourteen miles to the) Cumberland Gap."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Uncle "Am" Stuart, followed in the same year by recordings by Land Norris, Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett)
KEYWORDS: exploration settler Civilwar dancing dancetune
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1750 - Thomas Walker explores and names Cumberland Gap
Jun 18, 1862 - Union troops under G.W. Morgan occupy the Gap after James Rains (who is outnumbered by two to one) evacuates the pass
Sep 17, 1862 - Morgan evacuates the Gap, his retreat having been cut off by Bragg's and Kirby Smith's campaigns in Kentucky
Oct 22, 1862 - Confederate troops from Braxton Bragg's army occupy the Gap
Sept 10, 1863 - Confederates forced from the Gap by troops under Burnside. The Gap will remain in Union hands thereafter
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Randolph 498, "Cumberland Gap" (1fragment)
BrownIII 329, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 176-178, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 62-63, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 274-276, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text, 1 tune, composite)
Lomax-FSNA 80, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 31, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 714, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 67, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 49, "Cumberland Gap" (1 text)
ST R498 (Partial)
Roud #3413
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Cumberland Gap" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Jack Burchett, "Cumberland Gap" (on WatsonAshley01)
Rufus Crisp, "Cumberland Gap" (on Crisp01)
The Hillbillies, "Cumberland Gap" (Vocalion 5024, rec. 1926)
Frank Hutchison, "Cumberland Gap" (OKeh 45570, 1932; rec. 1929)
Buell Kazee, "Cumberland Gap" [fragment] (on Kazee01)
Land Norris, "Cumberland Gap" (OKeh 40212, 1924)
Fiddlin' Powers and Family, "Cumberland Gap" (Victor, unissued, 1924)
Don Reno & Red Smiley, "Cumberland Gap" (King 5002, c. 1956)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio, "Cumberland Gap" (Conqueror 8239, 1933)
Rutherford & Burnett, "Cumberland Gap" (Gennett 6706/Supertone 9310 [as Southern Kentucky Mountaineers], 1929 -- a primarily instrumental version; on BurnRuth01, KMM)
Pete Seeger, "Cumberland Gap" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
Arthur Smith, "Cumberland Gap" (on McGeeSmith1)
Uncle "Am" Stuart, "Cumberland Gap" [instrumental] (Vocalion 5035/Vocalion 14839, 1924)Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Cumberland Gap" (Columbia 245-D, 1924)
Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, "Cumberland Gap" (Columbia 15303-D, 1928)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "Medley: Cumberland Gap/Gid Tanner's Bucking Mule/Hen Cackle" (on DownYonder)
Wade Ward, "Cumberland Gap" [instrumental] (on Holcomb-Ward1)
Williamson Bros. & Curry "Cumberland Gap" (OKeh 45108, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bonnie George Campbell" [Child 210] (tune)
cf. "Dogget's Gap"
NOTES: This melody is played as a dance tune throughout the southeast. - PJS
Fuson's unusually long text has also been heavily localized: "September morn in Sixty-two... Morgan's 'Yankee' all withdrew." "They burned the hay, the meal, and meat... And left the rebels nothing to eat." "Braxton Bragg with his rebel band... He run George Morgan to the bluegrass land."
Union general George W. Morgan (1820-1893) had occupied the Gap on June 18, 1862 with a division after the oversized brigade of James E. Rains withdrew. (Rains, incidentally, did his own burning of stores as he pulled out.)
In September 1862, though, two Confederate armies under Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith were moving into Kentucky (the Perryville campaign). Kirby Smith's force threatened Morgan's communications, and on September 17, he conducted an orderly evacuation. There was no battle, but it would be another year before the Union recaptured the Gap. - RBW
File: R498

Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase

See The Bear Chase (File: LoF081)

Cumberland Traveller, The

DESCRIPTION: "Dear wife I hope this you will find In health of body and of mind And my dear babes whom I adore I live in hopes to see once more." The singer, who has left home for Cumberland, advises his wife, asks guidance of God, and hopes for peace for Cumberland
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown), from a manuscript apparently dated 1839
KEYWORDS: travel home husband wife
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 515, "The Cumberland Traveller" (1 damaged text)
NOTES: This may not be a song; it was found in a barely-legible nineteenth century manuscript book. - RBW
File: Br3515

Cumberland, The [Laws A26]

DESCRIPTION: The crew of the Cumberland, attacked by the CSS Virginia/Merrimac, fight back as best they can, though their shot bounces off the Confederate's armored hull. The Cumberland fights until it is rammed and sunk and goes down with all flags flying
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Good Old Time Songs #4; 19C (broadside, LOCSinging cw102120)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar ship
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
March 8, 1862 - U.S. frigates Congress and Cumberland sunk by the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack). The Minnesota runs aground; had not the Monitor arrived the next day, the Merrimac would have sunk that ship also
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws A26, "The Cumberland"
FSCatskills 16, "The 'Merrimac'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 11, "The Cumberland and the Merrimac" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 909-910, "The Cumberland and the Merrimac" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 225, "The Cumberland" (1 text plus extensive excerpts from a broadside version)
Creighton-NovaScotia 131, "Maggie Mac" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 597, CUMBMERR*
Roud #630
RECORDINGS:
Orlo Brandon, "The 'Merrimac'" (on GreatLakes1)
"Yankee" John Galuha, "The Cumberland and the Merrimac" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, cw102120, "The Good Ship Cumberland," A. W. Auner (Philadelphia), 19C; also cw102130, "Good Ship Cumberland"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cumberland Crew" [Laws A18] (subject)
cf. "Iron Merrimac" (subject)
SAME TUNE:
Raging Canal (per broadsides LOCSinging cw102120 and cw102130)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Good Ship Cumberland
Cumblom
NOTES: For historical background on this song, see the notes to "The Cumberland Crew" [Laws A18].
To tell this song from "The Cumberland Crew," refer to this text:
Come all my jolly seamen, likewise you landsmen too.
It is a dreadful story I will unfold to you.
It's all about the Cumberland, the ship so true and brave,
And it's many the loyal seamen that met a wat'ry grave.
...
Was early in the morning, just at the break of day,
When our good ship the Cumberland lay anchored in the bay (cj.)
When a man from our masthead to those below did cry (cj.)
"There's something up to windward like a housetop I espy." - RBW
File: LA26

Cumberland's Crew, The

See The Cumberland Crew [Laws A18] (File: LA18)

Cunning Cobbler, The

See The Little Cobbler (File: CoSB224)

Cunnla

See Connla (File: DTcunnld)

Cup o Tay, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer praises the virtues of "a gintale (genteel) cup o' tay": "Och, prate about your wine, or poteen mighty fine, There's no such draught as mine." Whiskey makes the head sore, but tea brings good company. The singer thanks the Chinese for it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: nonballad drink
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H489, p. 48, "The Cup o' Tay" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 7, "A Cup O' Tay" (1 text)
Roud #13362
File: HHH489

Cup of Cold Poison, The

See Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)

Cupid Benighted

DESCRIPTION: On a rainy night, the singer is awakened by a knocking at the door. It proves to be a winged boy with a bow (obviously Cupid). Once dry, he departs, saying, "My bow is not damaged / Nor yet is my dart / but you will have trouble / In bearing the smart"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1815 (The Songster's Companion)
KEYWORDS: supernatural gods
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Flanders/Olney, pp. 180-183, "The White-Headed Boy" (1 traditional text plus the Songster's Companion version; also a copy of Derby's translation of Anacreon)
ST FO180 (Partial)
Roud #4688
NOTES: Helen Flanders believes this piece to be based on the third Ode of Anacreon (floriut sixth century B.C.E.) The theme is obviously similar; presumably some broadside brought the song to popular consciousness.
Spaeth reports a piece by [Samuel?] Arnold called "Cupid Benighted," from 1795; I assume they are the same, but cannot prove it. - RBW
File: FO180

Cupid the Plowboy [Laws O7]

DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a youth breaking up the soil. (She calls him "Cupid the plowboy,") imagines his farm tools to be Cupid's arrows, and confesses that seeing "Cupid" has driven her current love from her mind. The plowboy hears her lament and offers marriage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1844 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(773))
KEYWORDS: love marriage work
FOUND IN: US(So) Canada(Newf) Britain(England(Lond,North,South))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws O7, "Cupid the Plowboy"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 79, "The Plowboy" (1 text)
Randolph 85, "Lone the Plow-Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 472, LONEPLOW
Roud #986
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(773), "Cupid, the Pretty Ploughboy" ("As I walk'd out one May morning"), J. Howe (Hull), 1835-1843; also Harding B 25(457), Firth c.18(231), "Cupid the Pretty Ploughboy"; Harding B 17(67a), "Cupid the Pretty Plough Boy"; Harding B 11(772), Firth c.18(169), "Cupid the Pretty Plough-boy"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rich Lady Gay" (plot)
File: LO07

Cupid's Garden (I) (Covent Garden I; Lovely Nancy III)

DESCRIPTION: The singer wanders down to (Cupid's/Covent) Garden and meets (lovely Nancy). He asks her if she will marry him. She says she will remain a virgin and/or she has another lover. He hopes to return and marry her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1767 (Journal from the Leopard)
KEYWORDS: sailor love courting rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greig #151, p. 3, "Covent's Garden"; #155, p. 2, "Covent's Garden" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan5 970, "Covent's Garden" (5 texts, 3 tunes)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 90-92, "Covent Garden"; pp. 92-94, "Cupid's Garden" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 186-187, "'Twas Down in Cupid's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CUPIDGRD*
Roud #297
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(40), "Cupid's Garden" or "The 'Prentice Boy," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Firth c.12(291), 2806 c.17(85), Harding B 28(137), Harding B 15(77b), Johnson Ballads 491, "Cupid's Garden", Harding B 20(119) , "Cupid's Garden" or "The Laurel Wear" ("It was down in Covent Garden "), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866, Harding B 28(255), "Laurel Wear" ("Its down in Cupid's garpen [sic] for pleasure I did go")
LOCSinging, sb30414b, "The 'Prentice Boy," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as111300, as111310, "The 'Prentice Boy"
NOTES: The versions of this text I have seen are, without exception, confused. The above plot summary is the best I can come up with.
Laws M12, "The Apprentice Boy," displays versions with this title, and both are about sailors and their loves. It's just possible that this is a badly damaged form of the Laws ballad. But I incline to think this is a separate song. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30414b: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: SWMS090

Cupid's Garden (II)

See The Apprentice Boy [Laws M12] (File: LM12)

Cupid's Trepan (Cupid's Trappan, The Bonny Bird)

DESCRIPTION: "Once did I love a bonny brave bird, And thought he had been all my own, But he lov'd another far better than me, And has taken his flight and is flown." The jilted lover in turn has turned to another, leaving the first lover lonely
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1729
KEYWORDS: love separation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 149-150, "Cupid's Trepan" (1 tune, partial text)
ST ChWII149 (Full)
Roud #293
SAME TUNE:
The Bonny Young Irish Boy [Laws P26] (File: LP26)
Of late I did hear a young man domineer/The Milkmaid's Resolution (BBI ZN2108)
I am a young man that do follow the plow/The Plowman's Art in Wooing (BBI ZN1240)
Of late did I hear a young damsel complain/Young Man put to his shifts (BBI ZN2107)
Once did I love and a very pretty Girl/The Batchellors Fore-cast..an Answer to Cupids Trappan (BBI ZN2160)
NOTES: This set of words clearly is of broadside origin (though likely inspired by a song of the "Dear Companion" type). But the evidence of the broadsides indicates that the tune, at least, entered oral tradition. I'm indexing it on that basis.
A "trepan" (trappan) is a trick or, by extension, a trickster. Thus Cupid's trepan is a trick played by Cupid on a lover.
Although it is also possible to take "Trepan" as "Trapan," which was the kidnapping of children and sending them as servants to the colonies. There is, e.g., a song (probably of broadside origin) of "The Trapann'd Maiden," quoted by Samuel Eliot Morison in The Oxford History of the American People, p. 83, about a girl taken and sent to Virginia. Thus this song may even have links to songs such as "Australia (Virginny)."
Roud lumps this with all sorts of songs, I assume on the basis of tune. - RBW
File: ChWII149

Curly Head of Hair

DESCRIPTION: The singer at first rejoices in his head of hair, even though it has brought him unwanted attention from apes and bears. But now he has a scolding wife, who often twists his hair, and he resolves to go and have the hair cut
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1969 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: hair humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 39, "Curly Head of Hair" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa039 (Partial)
Roud #2804
File: Wa039

Curragh of Kildare, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the winter it has passed, And the summer's come at last, The small birds are singing in the trees." The birds are glad, but the singer is weary of being apart from his love and will set out for the Curragh of Kildare to learn of her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1788 (Rewritten by Burns as "The Winter It Is Past"; _Scots Musical Museum_ #200); the song apparently was known to Herd
KEYWORDS: love separation bird
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1104, "The Winter It Is Past" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 291-293, "The Braes of Yarrow" (1 short text plus a fragment, 1 tune; the "A" text is a composite lost love song with single stanzas from "The Braes o Yarrow," "The Curragh of Kildare," and others beyond identification; as a whole it cannot be considered a version of Child #214) {Bronson's #37}
Karpeles-Newfoundland 54, "The Winter's Gone and Past" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CURRKILD*
Roud #583
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(176), "Young Johnson" ("Cold winter's gone and past"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(635), Harding B 16(54c), Harding B 16(55a), Harding B 25(394), Harding B 11(636), "Cold Winter is Past"; Harding B 28(236), "Cold Winter"; Harding B 17(54a), "Cold Winter" or "Young Johnson"; Harding B 20(53), "Cold Winter's Gone and Past"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Forglen (Forglen You Know, Strichen's Plantins)" (lyrics, form)
NOTES: Roud lumps a great many "cold winter is passed" type pieces under his #583 -- an understandable decision, given the state of the pieces. We try to restrict this item to "The Curragh of Kildare" and "The Winter It Is Past," filing the others separately
Which form is actually earliest I don't know with certanty; I called the piece "The Curragh of Kildare" rather than "The Winter It Is Past," even though the latter form seems better-attested, to make it clear that the Burns version is *not* original. - RBW
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 16(55a), among others, refers to "the borough of Kildare" rather than "the curragh of Kildare." - BS
The "winter is past" lyric may have been suggested by Song of Solomon 2:11 (a scrap which has been set to music on occasion by classical composers), but this is at best only a possibility; the parallel is slight.
Slightly closer is the parallel to one of John Gower's early French ballades (I'm not sure which one; I have only a translation, found in Garnett and Gosse's English Literature: An Illustrated Record, pp. 184-185 with no catalog indication), since it mentions not only the passing of winter but the rejoicing of birds, and it's a lost love piece. But while the one may have suggested the other, I doubt real dependence. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DTcurrki

Currency Lasses, The

See Botany Bay Courtship (The Currency Lasses) (File: FaE068)

Curse of Doneraile, The

See The Doneraile Litany (File: CrPS176)

Curst Wife, The

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

Curtains of Night

See When the Curtains of Night Are Pinned Back (File: San259)

Cushnie Winter Sports, The

DESCRIPTION: [After Jean Adam was hurt] Dauvid Ferries was "doctor till the doctor cam'." Effie Milne "swore she wad the laddie kill." If we affront Effie, "Willie Forbes'll gie's a dunt." Rachie would go no more "for fear o' getting her ... laid bare"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: sports humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 648, "The Cushnie Winter Sports" (1 fragment)
Roud #6071
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 quoting a 1906 letter to Duncan: "During the course of a very hard and long winter, men and women met near Mains of Cushnie to enjoy an hour's fun -- tobogganing -- more than a hundred years ago. A song was composed about it. I give fragments."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Cushnie (648) is at coordinate (h1,v5) on that map [near Alford, roughly 28 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3648

Custard Pie Blues

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going to tell you something baby, Ain't gonna tell you no lies, I want some of that custard pie. You got to give me some of it (x3) Before you give it all away." The singer informs the woman that she has the best pie in the world, and requests part
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: sex nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Courlander-NFM, pp. 129-130, "(Custard Pie Blues)" (1 text)
File: CNFM129

Custer's Last Charge (I)

DESCRIPTION: Custer leads his men into battle against the Sioux; a fierce scene is described, with bullets flying and dead falling on both sides. Three hundred US soldiers are killed and scalped by the Indians, who leave Custer with his dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930
KEYWORDS: army battle fight violence war death corpse soldier Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 25, 1876 - Battle of the Little Bighorn. Lt. Colonel George A. Custer (who had been a Major General during the Civil War) is killed, along with the entire force of cavalry (five companies with somewhat over 250 men) with him.
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "Custer's Last Charge" (AFS 4199 B1, 1938; tr.; on LC30, in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Last Fierce Charge" [Laws A17] (subject)
NOTES: This is a separate song from "The Last Fierce Charge," although [some versions of] both describe the battle of the Little Bighorn. Confusingly, some versions of "The Last Fierce Charge" share this song's title. (And Roud lumps them, perhaps for that reason.) They can be distinguished by the description of two men and a letter, which is present in "The Last Fierce Charge" but not in "Custer's Last Charge."
Warde Ford states that the words to this song were copied from the Custer Monument by his friends Robert & Charles Walker, and that the tune is generic; I do not have information to confirm this. - PJS
File: RcCLC

Custer's Last Charge (II)

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

Cuttie's Wedding

DESCRIPTION: Big Cuttie will get "a little wifie." He goes to the town pasture [drunk?], "fell oer the midden" and lost his shoe. He says "Monie ane's be at our weddin'." "Busk and go to Cuttie's weddin' Wha wad be the lass or lad That wadna gang an they were bidden?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Peter Buchan, _Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland_, according to Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: wedding clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 608, "Cuttie's Weddin'" (1 fragment, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 311, "Busk and Go, Busk and Go"
Roud #3357
File: GrD3608

Cutting Down the Pines

See The Lumber Camp Song (File: Doe210)

Cutty Wren, The

DESCRIPTION: Milder asks Malder questions ("Oh where are you going? says Milder to Malder"). Festle replies to Fose with a refusal to answer. John the Red Nose answers the questions. Most of the answers are extravagant ways of hunting the wren
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Mason's "Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs")
KEYWORDS: wren hunting questions talltale
FOUND IN: Wales Britain(England)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Kennedy (78), "Helg yn Dreean/Hunt the Wren" (1 text, located in the notes)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 110-111, "The Cutty Wren" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 91-92, "The Cutty Wren" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 347, "The Cutty Wren" (1 text)
DT, CUTYWREN*
ADDITIONAL: Bob Stewart, _Where Is Saint George? Pagan Imagery in English Folksong_, revised edition, Blandford, 1988, pp. 15-16, "The Cutty Wren" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #236
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wren (The King)" (subject)
cf. "Billy Barlow" (form)
cf. "Cricketty Wee" (form)
cf. "Hunt the Wren" (form, subject)
cf. "The Green Bushes" [Laws P2] (tune)
NOTES: Although widely popular in revival circles, "The Cutty Wren" has not been all that popular in tradition, being confined to places such as Wales, the Isle of Man, and northern England. The style (of distinct speakers carrying a conversation in order) is more common; see the cross-references.
Many have identified "Billy Barlow," "Cricketty Wee," or (especially) "Hunt the Wren" with "The Cutty Wren," but while the form is similar, and in the latter case even the subject is the same, the plot is distinct enough that the Index splits them.
For a little information, and a lot of speculation, on the history of wrenning, see the notes to "The Wren (The King)." - RBW
Opie-Oxford2 447, "We will go to the wood, says Robin to Bobbin" [also] gives background references about hunting the wren. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DTcutywr

Cyclone Blues

See Kansas Cyclone (File: RcKansCy)

Cyclone of Rye Cove, The

DESCRIPTION: A tornado strikes the town of Rye Cove, and the schoolhouse is destroyed. Parents search the rubble, finding the bodies of their children.
AUTHOR: A. P. Carter (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: grief death disaster storm
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1928 - the Rye Cove storm in Scott County, Virginia
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, RYECOVE
Roud #7116
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "The Cyclone of Ryecove" (Victor V-40207, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-7023, 1936; Zonophone [Australia] 4322, n.d.; rec. 1929)
DeBusk-Weaver Family, "Cyclone of Rycove" (on DeBusk-Weaver1)
Asa Martin, "Ryecove Cyclone" (Oriole 8163/Conqueror 8068 [as Martin & Roberts], 1932)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Cyclone of Rye Cove" (on NLCR13)
File: DTryecov

D & H Canal, The

DESCRIPTION: (After an unrelated opening stanza), the song describes a flood which hit the canal in 1878. "The embankment broke" and "the damage was terrific"; the rest of the song details some of the damage done
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: canal flood
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1828 - Opening of the Delaware & Hudson Canal
1898 - The D & H Canal closes
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 172, "The D & H Canal" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC172 (Partial)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Pop Goes the Weasel" (tune) and references there
cf. "Sarah Jane" (tune, floating lyrics)
File: FSC172

D-2 Horse Wrangler

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

D-Day Dodgers, The

DESCRIPTION: "We're the D-Day Dodgers, out in Italy, Always on the vino, Always on the spree." The soldiers describe their allegedly safe and luxurious life: "Salerno, a holiday with pay," etc. They point out the nonsense of Lady Astor's remarks
AUTHOR: Hamish Henderson?
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: war battle death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 10, 1943 - British and American troops attack Sicily (Messina falls on August 17, but the Germans have evacuated)
Sept 9, 1943 - Allies invade the Italian mainland
June 4, 1944 - Allies enter Rome
June 6, 1944 - D-Day. Invasion of Normandy begins
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 358-359, "D-Day Dodgers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 282, "The D-Day Dodgers" (1 text)
DT, DDAY*
Roud #10499
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "The D-Day Dodgers" (on PeteSeeger39)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lili Marlene" (tune)
NOTES: Lady Astor, an American-born member of the British parliament, was reported to have criticised the Allied armies in Italy as "D-Day Dodgers." In fact they were some of the hardest-suffering troops of the war; they fought well-entrenched Germans and never received enough equipment or reinforcements. The troops in Normandy were, comparatively, lucky; casualties were lighter and conditions were better.
This song is how the troops answered Lady Astor.
The Folksinger's Wordbook credits this to Hamish Henderson, which is possible, as he wrote other "anonymous" songs of World War II. But I know of no actual proof, and many authors treat the song as anonymous. - RBW
File: SBoA358

D'ou Viens-Tu, Bergere?

DESCRIPTION: French: "'Where did you come from, shepherd girl?' 'I came from the stable... I saw a little child... Fairer than the moon... There his mother Mary did her babe enfold... Ox and ass before him... Then came three bright angels.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: Christmas Jesus religious foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Que) US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BerryVin, p. 14, "D'ou viens-tu, bergere? (Whence, O, Shepherd Maiden?)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 126-127, "D'ou Viens-Tu, Bergere" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 42, "D'ou Viens-Tu, Bergere?" (1 English and 1 French text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This is one of those Christmas songs built mostly around legends. There was no evidence that Bethlehem was cold at the time Jesus was born (for that matter, there is no evidence that it was in December), nor even that there were animals in his immediate vicinity.
The correct title of this song is "D'où Viens-Tu, Bergere?" - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FJ126

D'ye Ken John Peel?

DESCRIPTION: "Do ye ken John Peel with his coat so gray? Do ye ken John Peel at the break of day?" The singer talks of Peel's frequent hunting expeditions, detailing even his hounds. The singer will "follow John Peel through fair and through foul"
AUTHOR: Words: John Woodcock Graves / Music: Traditional
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: hunting dog
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 108-109, "D'ye Ken John Peel?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 208, "John Peel" (1 text)
DT, JOHNPEEL*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #143, "John Peel" (1 text)
Roud #1239
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Horn of the Hunter" (subject)
NOTES: Written by Graves to celebrate his friend John Peel. The tune is said to be "Bonnie Annie."
John Peel is not to be confused with the prime minister Sir Robert Peel (who created the "Peelers"). Born in 1776, John Peel lived until 1854, and "for over 40 years ran the famous pack of hounds that bore his name."
According to Stokoe, Graves (1795-1886) wrote the song while in the company of Peel. This would date the song before 1833, in which year Graves emigrated to Tasmania. - RBW
File: FSWB208

Da's All Right, Baby

DESCRIPTION: Patting chant. "Da's all righ', honey (x2), Way up yonder, darlin', 'Bove the sun, sugar, Girls all call me honey." Odds and ends about courting. The singer warns that yonder girl will "git you too." He is going away someday
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: love courting nonballad betrayal
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 239-240, "Da's All Right, Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15037
File: LxA239

Dabbling in the Dew

See Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)

Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow

DESCRIPTION: The child regularly brings her cat to school because, she explains, "Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow." She intends to do as she "'likes'" when she gets old, and have a parrot and children.
AUTHOR: Joseph Tabrar
EARLIEST DATE: 1927
KEYWORDS: animal dog children
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 258-259, "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13973
NOTES: It's songs like this that make me wish we had a keyword "stupid." But the piece proved much more popular than it deserved, so here it is. - RBW
File: SWM258

Daemon Lover, The (The House Carpenter) [Child 243]

DESCRIPTION: A girl who once loved a sailor is greeted by her lost lover (, now rich and powerful). He bids her come with him; she points out that she is married and has a child. He convinces her to come with him. Their ship sinks not far from land
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1737
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity abandonment Devil death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(South)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (50 citations):
Child 243, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (8 texts)
Bronson 243, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (146 versions+1 in addenda)
GreigDuncan2 332, "James Harris" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #134}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 310-313, "The House Carpenter" (1 text plus a fragment and a broadside version, 1 tune) {Bronson's #53}
Belden, pp. 79-87, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (4 texts plus mention of 5 others, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #106, #124}
Randolph 30, "The House Carpenter" (4 texts plus 7 excerpts and 5 fragments, 8 tunes) {A=Bronson's #117, B=#114, E=#99, I=#122, J=#90, M=#5, N=#101, P=#97}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 54-56, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 30J) {Bronson's #90}
Eddy 23, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 4 tunes) {Bronson #121,#125,#55,#95}
Gardner/Chickering 10, "The House Carpenter" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #131, #66, #128}
Dean, pp. 55-56, "The Faithless Wife" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 243-244, "The Young Turtle Dove" (1 text, with an introductory "Turtle Dove" verse)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 287-321, "James Harris, or the Daemon Lover" (13 texts plus 3 fragments, some mixed with other songs (e.g. "G" has the "Turtle Dove" verse; "N" is very confused, with references to the Banks of Claudy), 11 tunes) {A=Bronson's #93, N=#141}
Davis-Ballads 40, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (27 texts plus two versions in the appendix which are "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)" with added "House Carpenter" verses; 7 tunes all entitled "The House Carpenter"; 23 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #139,#42,#86,#62,#137,#52,#89}
Davis-More 36, pp. 270-289, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (9 texts plus an excerpt, 10 tunes)
BrownII 40, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (5 text plus 7 excerpts and mention of 2 more)
Chappell-FSRA 18, "The Demon Lover" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #94}
Hudson 21, pp. 119-122, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (2 texts)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 59-61, "The House Carpenter" (1 text)
Shellans, pp. 30-31, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 150-159, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (6 texts, all of which are entitled "The House Carpenter"; 3 tunes on pp. 400-401) {Bronson's #64, #58, #25}
Brewster 21, "James Harris" (9 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #93, #127}
Peacock, pp. 740-741, "The Young Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 5, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 598-606, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (4 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 122-131, "The House Carpenter's Wife"; "The House Carpenter"; "J'ai Marie un Ouvrier" (4 texts (1 Cajun French), 4 tunes)
OBB 28, "The Daemon Lover" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 13, "James Harris (The Demon Lover; The House Carpenter)" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 54, "The Daemon Lover" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #91}
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 84-85, "The Little Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune) {compare Bronson's #44, from a recording, showing a slightly different tune but almost the same text except that it is a "House Carpenter" rather than a "Little Carpenter"}
FSCatskills 74, "The Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 45, "The Ship Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 65, "James Harris (The Demon Lover)" (1 text)
Niles 55, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 35, "The Daemon Lover" (10 texts plus 12 fragments, 22 tunes){Bronson's #2, #10, #54, #77, #113, #135, #23, #7, #29, #14, #109a, #50, #9, #65, #6, #36, #21, #48, #80, #74, #81, #136}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 25, "The House Carpenter (The Daemon Lover)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Sandburg, pp. 66-67, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #118}
Lomax-FSNA 88, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 75, "James Harris (The Demon Lover)" (1 text)
JHCox 25, "James Harris (The Daemon Lover)" (5 texts plus mention of 16 others, 1 tune) {Bronson's #120}
JHCoxIIA, #12A-D, pp. 48-56, "The House Carpenter," "The House Carpenter's Wife" (4 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #32, #83, #130}
Fowke/MacMillan 81, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
TBB 34, "The Daemon Lover" (1 text)
Gilbert, pp. 35-36, "The House Carpenter and the Ship Carpenter" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 25-27, "The House Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 17, pp. 43-45, "The House Carpenter" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 34-36, "The House Carpenter" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 218, "The House Carpenter's Wife" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2466, "There dwelt a fair Maid in the West"
DT 243, HOUSCARP* HOUSCRP2* HOUSCRP3*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 208, "The House Carpenter" (1 text)
Roud #14
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley, "The House Carpenter" (Columbia 15654-D, 1931; rec. 1930; on AAFM1, BefBlues3) {Bronson's #70}
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "The House Carpenter" (on Ashley01)
Pearl Jacobs Borusky, "Well Met, My Old True Love" (AFS, 1940; on LC58) {Bronson's #103}
Sheila Clark, "House Carpenter" (on LegendTomDula)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Can't You Remember When Your Heart Was Mine?" (Victor V-40219, 1930)
Dillard Chandler, "Little Farmer Boy" (on Chandler01)
Rebecca King Jones, "The House Carpenter" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
Bradley Kincaid, "The House Carpenter" (Bluebird 5255/Sunrise 3338, 1933)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Demon Lover" (on Lloyd3, ESFB1, ESFB2)
Almeda Riddle, "The House Carpenter" (on LomaxCD1706) {Bronson's #71}
Jean Ritchie, "The House Carpenter" (on JRitchie01)
Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson, "The House Carpenter" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
Hobart Smith & Texas Gladden, "The House Carpenter" (Disc 6079, 1940s) {Bronson's #47}
Lillie Steele, "The House Carpenter" (on PSteele01) {Bronson's #24}
Doug Wallin, "The House Carpenter" (on Wallins1)
Clay Walters, "The Ship Carpenter" (AFS, 1937; on LC58) {Bronson's #13 or #78}
Annie Watson & Gaither Carlton, "The House Carpenter" (on Watson01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(255), "House Carpenter," J.H. Johnson (Philadelphia), n.d.
LOCSinging, sb40538b, "The House Carpenter," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as105530, "The House Carpenter"
NOTES: Although Child calls this "The Daemon Lover," a survey of the 163 versions printed or cited in Bronson shows that 99 are named "The House Carpenter" or minor variants, and several others were probably retitled by the editors. This probably ought to be the family name -- but I adopted the one I did as a partial link to Child. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb40538b: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: C243

Daily Growing

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

Dainty Davie

DESCRIPTION: "Being pursued by the dragoons," Davie is hidden in the bed of the daughter of Cherrytrees. He makes such efficient use of the time that the girl ends up pregnant; they eventually marry. She is happy with her Dainty Davie
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776? (Herd MS.); c. 1800 (Merry Muses of Caledonia)
KEYWORDS: sex escape marriage bawdy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
DT, DNTDAVE2
ADDITIONAL: Hanish Henderson, "The Ballad, The Folk and The Oral Tradition," in Edward J. Cowan, editor, _The People's Past: Scottish Folk, Scottish History_ 1980 (I use the 1993 Polygon paperback edition), pp. 83-86, "(Dainty Davie)" (2 texts)
Roud #2387
NOTES: The variations among the versions of this song are extreme -- and not just because Burns rewrote it; the versions from "The Merry Muses" and Buchan's "Secret Songs of Silence" have hardly a word in common except for parts of the chorus. It seems likely that Burns was not the only one to rewrite it. Nonetheless there seems to be agreement that the song is about one Reverend David Williamson (died 1706?), who was accused of preaching rebellion against Charles II (reigned 1660-1685).
Supposedly Williamson was hidden by a wife who dressed him as a woman and put him in bed with her daughter, who was about 18. The girl went along; the mother was less happy, but allowed them to marry to avoid scandal.
Whether any of this has been verified by historians I do not know. Mostly we find folklorists repeating the tales of other folklorists. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DTdntda2

Dainty Doonby, The

DESCRIPTION: "A lassie was milkin' her faither's kye When a gentleman on horseback he cam' riding by... He was the laird o' the Dainty Doonby." The laird seduces then abandons the girl. Months later, he comes to ask of her health. She is pregnant; he marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction sex pregnancy nobility abandonment reunion marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1488, "The Dainty Downby" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy 179, "The Lady o' the Dainty Doon-by" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 21, "The Laird of the Denty Doon Bye" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DDOONBY*
Roud #864
RECORDINGS:
Lizzie Higgins, "The Laird O' the Dainty Doonby" (on Voice06)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broom of Cowdenknows" [Child 217] (plot)
cf. "The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie" [Child 290] (plot)
cf. "The Sleepy Merchant" (plot)
cf. "The Bonnie Parks o' Kilty" (plot)
cf. "The Parks o' Keltie" (theme of a laird raping a girl then marrying her)
NOTES: Abby Sale suggests that this is a version of "The Broom of Cowdenknows" [Child 217]. The plots are the much the same (except for the role of the parents, who in "Cowdenknows" are hostile if they show up at all, but here are sympathetic), but the overall form suggests the songs are separate. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K179

Dainty Downby, The

See The Dainty Doonby (File: K179)

Dairy Farmer, The

See Watercresses (File: Peac320)

Daisy Deane

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls meeting Daisy Deane in a flowery meadow where the birds sang. He recalls that she outshone the flowers. But now both are faded; Daisy is dead
AUTHOR: Lt. T. F. Winthrop & James R. Murray
EARLIEST DATE: 1863 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death courting flowers
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 162-165, "Daisy Deane" (2 texts, one the original print version and the other a field collection; 2 tunes)
ST MN2162 (Partial)
Roud #4269
RECORDINGS:
Grandpa Jones, "Daisy Dean" (King 834, 1949)
NOTES: There is a "Daisy Deane Songster" dated 1869, presumably named after the heroine of his song. This would seem to imply a high degree of popularity for the song, at least for a time. - RBW
File: MN2162

Dakota Land

DESCRIPTION: "We've reached the land of desert sweet Where nothing grows for man to eat." "O Dakota land, sweet Dakota land, As on thy fiery soil I stand, I look across the plains And wonder why it never rains." Settlers stay only because "we are too poor to get away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914
KEYWORDS: pioneer hardtimes parody
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 280-281, "Dakota Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 23, "Dakota Land" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 9, "Dakota Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 86, p. 185, "Dakota Land" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 155, "Dakotaland" (1 text, tune referenced); pp. 248-249, "Sweet Dakotaland" (1 text, 1 tune, perhaps a parody of this parody!)
Silber-FSWB, p. 119, "Dakota Land" (1 text)
DT, DAKOTLND* SWTDAKOT
Roud #4899
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Beulah Land" (tune)
cf. "Saskatchewan" (tune, theme)
NOTES: Although the "Dakota Land" form seems to be the most common in tradition, local versions have sprouted for much of the West. Thus the Fifes lists texts for "Dakota Land," "Nebraska Land," and "Missouri Land." "Saskatchewan" also follows this form, but it has been adapted enough that I think it qualifies as a separate song. - RBW
The Pankakes report this to the tune of "O Tannenbaum." I don't recall any other version to that tune. - RBW
File: San280

Dallas County Jail, The

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

Dally Roper's Song, The

See The Chisholm Trail (I) (File: R179)

Dalmuir Ploughing Match

DESCRIPTION: Will Aikenhead competes in a ploughing match "in the West Barns of Clyde" and is declared winner after a dispute about timing. The dispute continues after the decision. The old and young class winners are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (_Dalmuir Ploughing Match_ broadside from Poet's Box, Glasgow, according to GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: contest farming
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #65, p. 1, "The Dalmuir Ploughing Match" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 427, "Dalmuir Ploughing Match" (1 text)
Roud #5944
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah)" [Laws M31A/B]" (tune, per broadside cited by GreigDuncan3)
File: GrD3427

Dam on Baldwin Creek, The [Laws C21]

DESCRIPTION: Sawmill boss Bill Reed has set up a cofferdam which fails; the sawmill is saved by sandbags placed by Old George Shane. Reed tries to restart the mill too soon; his errors cause him to be replaced by Old George
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: logger flood boss lumbering
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws C21, "The Dam on Baldwin Creek"
Beck 30, "The Dam on Baldwin Creek" (1 text)
DT 838, BALDCRK
Roud #1927
NOTES: Beck notes that some versions of this song include a few obscenities. Not [his text], though. - PJS
One can only wish one knew the sources of Beck's information, as his is the only version known to Laws. - RBW
File: LC21

Dame Durden

DESCRIPTION: "Dame Durden kept five servant maids To carry the milking pail, She also kept five lab'ring men To use the spade and flail." The sundry workers are listed, as well as their (amorous) adventures on Valentine's Day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (tune and song name in use in America by 1834)
KEYWORDS: courting love work servant
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy 293, "Dame Durden" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DAMEDURD
Roud #1209
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "Dame Durden" (on FSB1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Under the Greenwood Tree" (form) and references there
SAME TUNE:
King Andrew (sheet music in Lawrence, p. 248)
King Alcohol (Hutchinson Family temperance song)
File: K293

Dame, Get Up and Bake Your Pies (Christmas Day in the Morning)

DESCRIPTION: "Dame, get up and bake your pies, Bake your pies, bake your pies, Dame, get up... On Christmas day in the morning." "Dame, what makes your maidens lie?" "Dame, what makes your ducks to die?" "Their wings are cut, they cannot fly."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1778 (Gentleman's Magazine, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: cook food Christmas bird
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #420, pp. 195-196, "(Dame, get up and bake your pies)"
Opie-Oxford2 126, "Dame, get up and bake your pies" (1 text)
Roud #497
File: BGMG420

Damn the Filipinos

DESCRIPTION: "In that land of dopey dreams, happy peaceful Philippines," the singer complains of the hardships suffered by American soldiers and of the lack of social grace of the natives. He calls for "civiliz[ing] them with a Krag" and curses them repeatedly
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Harper's Weekly)
KEYWORDS: war rebellion army curse
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1898 - Spanish-American War results in American occupation of the Philippines.
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 547-548, "Damn the Filipinos" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DAMFILIP*
Roud #15578
NOTES: During the Spanish-American War, almost the entire population of the Philippines welcomed the Americans as liberators. The Americans didn't live up to their part of the bargain, though; independence was not granted for half a century.
As a result, a strong resistance movement arose under Emilio Aguinaldo (1870-1964). Aguinaldo originally fought against the Spanish (from 1896), then turned against the Americans. He was captured in 1901, but the resistance movement lasted much longer. - RBW
File: LxA547

Damn, Damn, Damn the Filipinos

See Damn the Filipinos (File: LxA547)

Damsel Possessed of Great Beauty, A

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

Damsel's Tragedy, The

DESCRIPTION: When her son falls in love with a girl she finds unsuitable, his mother first blusters, then murders the girl. The girl's ghost walks to tell her lover. The son accuses his mother, then kills himself. The mother completes the circle by committing suicide
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: love courting murder betrayal suicide ghost mother children
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Flanders/Brown, pp. 97-98, "The Damsel's Tragedy" (1 text)
ST FlBr097 (Partial)
Roud #4663
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Beautiful Susan" [Laws M29] (theme)
NOTES: Although most of the themes in this song are commonplace, this strikes me as just a little too Antigone-ish to be real. Certainly it didn't become widespread. - RBW
File: FlBr097

Dan Curley

DESCRIPTION: May 18, singer hears Dan Curley's wife crying. Curley is being executed for the Phoenix Park murders on the word of the informer, James Carey. She wishes Carey be evicted, his wife be a widow, and his children wander homeless. She will join Curley soon.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: betrayal murder curse revenge nonballad wife death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Chronology of the Phoenix Park murders (source: primarily Zimmermann, pp. 62, 63, 281-286.)
May 6, 1882 - Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke are murdered by a group calling themselves "The Invincible Society."
January 1883 - twenty seven men are arrested.
James Carey, one of the leaders in the murders, turns Queen's evidence.
Six men are condemned to death, four are executed (Joseph Brady is hanged May 14, 1883; Daniel Curley is hanged on May 18, 1883), others are "sentenced to penal servitude," and Carey is freed and goes to South Africa.
July 29, 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell kills Carey on board the "Melrose Castle" sailing from Cape Town to Durban.
Dec 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell is convicted of the murder of James Carey and executed in London (per Leach-Labrador)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 19, "Dan Curley" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
File: McB1019

Dan Curry

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a woman "dressed in deep mournin' With a babe on her bosom" on the banks of the Effie. She says "Felix Parks murdered my husband, Dan Curry.... May his short life be wrecked and his wife die a widow" She hopes to meet Curry in heaven.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: mourning murder wife husband curse
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manny/Wilson 64, "Dan Curry" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi064 (Partial)
Roud #9210
NOTES: Although the names in this song sound English, and the only known versions seem to be Canadian, it sounds very Irish to me. I checked both current and somewhat older atlases, and found no river Effie. An error for "Liffey," perhaps? - RBW
File: MaWi064

Dan Dan

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "Oh my name is Dan Dan! Ho! Somebody drink me rum. Ho! Somebody wears me clothes, Ho!" Little more than a chant used for hauling, the pull coming on 'Ho!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, p. 440, "Dan Dan" (1 short text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 331]
File: Hugi440

Dan McChree

DESCRIPTION: Tailor Dan McChree's mother had him take gruel to her maid, sick in bed with a headache. Dan told her to take it to "mak' your belly warm." "The lassie thocht her mistress Knew better than she" and took the "gruel." "She grew stoot aboot the waist"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: seduction medicine pregnancy mother rake servant
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1474, "Dan McChree" (1 text)
Roud #7182
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I'm a Tailor To My Trade
File: GrD71474

Dan Murphy's Convoy

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls what happened at the convoy. He lists the people who showed up. They start a dance, then interrupt it. There is a fine dinner, and much drink. Fights break out; there is much commotion; a fine time is had by all
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: party dancing drink humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H663, p. 72, "Dan Murphy's Convoy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9050
File: HHH663

Dan-Doo

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

Danae, The

See Isabeau S'y Promene (Isabel) (File: SBoA297)

Dance Song

See Jingle at the Window (Tideo) (File: R525)

Dance the Boatman

See De Boatman Dance (File: BMRF566)

Dance Ti' Thy Daddy

See Dance To Your Daddy (File: FSWB409)

Dance to Your Daddy

DESCRIPTION: "Dance to your daddy, my little laddie, Dance to your daddy, my little man. You shall have a fish and you shall have a fin, You shall have a coddlin' when the boat comes in." The child is told that he will grow up, marry, and love the girl his whole life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Fordyce's Newcastle Song Book, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: dancing family father nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber)), Ireland US(Ap)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 76-77, "Dance Ti' Thy Daddy" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan8 1562, "Dance to Your Daddy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 123, "Dance to your daddy" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #563, p. 229, "(Dance to your daddy)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 104, "(Dance to your daddy)" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 83, "Dance to Your Daddy" (1 short text partly rewritten by Jean Ritchie, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 409, "Dance To Your Daddy" (1 text)
DT, DANCEDAD* DANCDAD2*
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 18, ("Dance to your daddie")
Roud #2439
RECORDINGS:
Elizabeth Cronin, "Dance to Your Daddy" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
Ritchie Family, "Dance To Your Daddy" (on Ritchie03)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Little Fishy
NOTES: This appears, from the dialect and the unusually full form found in Stokoe, to have originated in Northumbria in England. But there are a lot of filed-down versions; I'm not entirely sure whether these are traditional or pop-folksingers' attempts to make the song more accessible to urban audiences - RBW
Jean Ritchie notes that she sings this song to her son; she doesn't say it's one she learned from her family, but she hints that she did, so I include, "FOUND IN US(Ap)". However, at this point in her life she'd done folklore research in Britain and may have picked it up there. - PJS
See Tim Coughlan, Now Shoon the Romano Gillie, (Cardiff,2001), #160, p. 413, "Grib to your Naiskel" [Scotto-Romani/Tinklers' Cant fragment from MacColl and Seeger, Till Doomsday in the Afternoon (1986)]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB409

Dance, Thumbkin, Dance

DESCRIPTION: A childrens's game for the fingers: "Dance, Thumbkin, dance, Dance, ye merry men, every one: But Thumbkin, he can dance alone, Thumbkin, he can dance alone." Similarly for the other four digits, Foreman, Longman, Ringman, Littleman
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1831 (Mrs Child's Girls Own Book, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 500, "Dance, Thumbkin, dance" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #576, p. 233, "(Dance Thumbkin, Dance)"
Roud #12837
File: BGMG576

Dancing in Glenroan (Rinnceoiri Ghleann Ruain)

DESCRIPTION: The singer, "growing old and weary," recalls the dancing of his youth in Glenroan; "my heart is filled with wonder Why we ever leave such pleasure for a world so cold and lone" He is comforted by the thought that youngsters are still dancing there.
AUTHOR: Felix Kearney (source: Tunney-SongsThunder)
EARLIEST DATE: 1991 (Tunney-SongsThunder)
KEYWORDS: age dancing music lyric nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 71-72, "Dancing in Glenroan" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kerry Dance" (theme)
NOTES: Tunney-SongsThunder: Translated into Gaelic as "Rinnceoiri Ghleann Ruain" by Arthur Kearney.
Glenroan is in County Tyrone. - BS
File: TST071

Dandoo

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

Dandy Apprentice Boy, The

See The Bonny Sailor Boy [Laws M22] (File: LM22)

Dandy Chignon, The

See Oyster Shell Bonnets and Chignons (The Dandy Chignon) (File: HHH227)

Daniel Cooper

DESCRIPTION: The drinking and sexual adventures of Daniel Cooper and others. When the Piper's wife lifts her smock he "claw'd her." He lies with a milk-maid who leaves happy but pregnant. Lady Cardle says he's a bonny loon. A widow dances naked for highland boys.
AUTHOR: 1683 (broadside, Douce Ballads 1(51a))
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: sex adultery pregnancy drink bawdy humorous nonballad rake
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 1(51a), "Daniel Cooper" or "The High-land Laddy," P. Brooksby (London)), 1683
NOTES: One text of Opie-Oxford2 523, "We're all dry with drinking on't" quotes the first verse of "Daniel Cooper"
Broadside Bodleian Douce Ballads 1(51a) includes the tune which, the broadside says, is "a Scotch tune, called Wally on't, Or, We'l welcome you to Yarrow. Up go we, Or, Jenny Gin.." - BS
File: BdBDaCoo

Daniel in the Den of Lions

See Who Did Swallow Jonah? (File: FSWB386B)

Daniel in the Lion's Den

DESCRIPTION: "Among the Jewish captives one Daniel there was found." Daniel's piety is renowned. His enemies cause the King to demand that all people worship only the King for 30 days. Daniel does not, is thrown to the lions -- and survives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Brown); there are several older references to songs of this title, but they may not be the same
KEYWORDS: religious animal royalty Bible Jew
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 524, "Daniel in the Lion's Den" (1 text)
SharpAp 194, "Daniel in the Lion's Den" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3614
RECORDINGS:
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "Daniel in the Lion's Den" (Decca 48116, c. 1948)
NOTES: This is too accurate to be folk song. (Too bad there was no king called Darius the Mede, so the whole section in Daniel is demonstrably historically inaccurate.) This is a dull but correct retelling of the events in Daniel 6. - RBW
File: Br3524

Daniel Monroe

See Donald Munroe [Laws J12] (File: LJ12)

Daniel O'Connell (I)

DESCRIPTION: Singer overhears an old woman and a tinker; he says Daniel O'Connell is now making children in Dublin by steam; those made the old way are too few. She berates O'Connell for removing the people's best diversion; he salutes her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (recording, O. J. Abbott)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer overhears an old woman and a tinker talking; he says Daniel O'Connell is now making children in Dublin by steam, because those made the old way are too small and too few. She berates O'Connell for removing the people's best diversion; he salutes her, saying that if all women in Ireland were as plucky as she, the nation would have babies aplenty (for the Queen's army)
KEYWORDS: age disability sex army pregnancy Ireland political baby children tinker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1775-1847 - Life of Daniel O'Connell
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #1 (1973), p, 18, "Daniel O'Connell" (1 text, 1 tune, apparently the O. J. Abbott version)
Roud #2313
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "Daniel O'Connell" (on Abbott1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Fergus O'Connor and Independence" (subject: Daniel O'Connell and the Tithe War)
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (II)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Erin's Green Shore [Laws Q27]" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "By Memory Inspired" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Charlie Jack's Dream" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Annie Moore" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "An Irish Girl's Opinion" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Old Ireland I Adore" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Granuaile" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Gra-mo-chroi. I'd Like to See Old Ireland Free Once More" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Come to the Bower" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "The Shan Van Voght (1828)," (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Glorious Repeal Meeting Held at Tara Hill" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "The Meeting of Tara" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Erin's King (Daniel Is No More)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Kerry Eagle" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Grand Conversation on O'Connell Arose" (subject: Daniel O'Connell)
cf. "Not a Word of 'No Surrender'" (subject; Protestant opposition to Daniel O'Connell)
NOTES: Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) [was] leader of Catholic Association whose pressure led to the Catholic Emancipation Act, 1829.
"Tinker," in this context, means one of the travelling people, rather than a worker in tin. Fowke notes drily that this aspect of O'Connell's long career "seems to have been overlooked by his biographers." - PJS
I wonder if this might not be confused with the life of another Irish hero, Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891), whose career was blighted by sex scandals. Given that the only surviving version of this song seems to be O. J. Abbott's, such a thing is possible.
There is severe irony in O'Connell urging that Ireland breed up more people; his last major speech, in 1847, was on the disaster of the potato famine -- which of course was so deadly only because Ireland had more people than it could reasonably support.
There is another Canadian Daniel O'Connell song, a fragment collected by Creighton. It perhaps reveals how many Irish left Ireland after the famines that both songs are found only outside Ireland. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcDanOco

Daniel O'Connell (II)

DESCRIPTION: "In the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and four There was great rejoicing round Erin's green shore, When Daniel O'Connell he made this appeal: 'All I want is fair justice to gain my repeal.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: Ireland political
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 95, "Daniel O'Connell" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #2771
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War) and references there
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
NOTES: The current description is all of the Creighton-SNewBrunswick fragment.
See also Bodleian, 2806 c.15(195), "Erin's Green Linnet ("On a fair summer's morning as day was just dawning"); Harding B 19(39), "The Green Linnet"
Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) tried to convince the British to reform administration of Ireland and was the leading figure on behalf of Catholic Emancipation. (For his history, see also "Erin's Green Shore" [Laws Q27]).
Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "Our solitary stanza may refer to the Tithe War." That may be but does not tie in with 1804. O'Connell's Catholic Association was formed in 1823 to resist the requirement that Irish Catholics pay tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland. The "war" was passive for most of the period 1823-1836, though there were violent incidents in 1831 (source: The Irish Tithe War 1831 at the OnWar.com site) - BS
I am more inclined to accept the date than Creighton's explanation. O'Connell first came to prominence at the time of the 1800 Union of Ireland and England: He opposed it. (Quite reasonably, since Ireland had had a real parliament and significant self-rule under the old constitution which Union replaced.)
The name of the anti-Union movement? "Repeal."
The notion of Repeal became more of a platform in 1832, when O'Connell formed a party in parliament for the purpose. But he had been talking about the notion for decades. The date 1804 makes some sense, because it was the last year in which his primary issue was avoiding Union; starting in 1805 and for many years after, his chief demand was Catholic "emancipation" (read, essentially, enfranchisement, though it's a lot more complicated than that).
Healy-OISBv2 includes a very large section of O'Connell pieces (roughly p. 85-101, plus a few others). Few of these show any hints of being traditional. - RBW
File: CrSNB095

Daniel Prayed

DESCRIPTION: Daniel prays to God three times a day. Cast in the lions' den, the lions' jaws are locked. Listeners should follow his example. Chorus: "Old Daniel served the living God/While here upon this earth he trod...Daniel prayed every morning, noon and night"
AUTHOR: G. T. Speer
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (composed)
KEYWORDS: captivity Bible religious animal gods
FOUND IN: US(SE)
Roud #7692
RECORDINGS:
Fred Price, Clint Howard & Doc Watson, "Daniel Prayed" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Stanley Brothers "Daniel Prayed" (on StanBros01)
NOTES: Ralph Rinzler notes that Price, Howard & Watson refreshed their memory of this song from the shape-note hymnal "The Best of All," from whence comes the attribution to G. T. Speer and the date. - PJS
In Daniel 6, the (non-existent) king Darius the Mede ordered that no one pray to anyone but him for thirty days (an inconceivable order from the historical Darius I of Persia, who was a Zoroastrian monotheist, and hardly more likely from Cyrus the Great of Persia, who conquered Babylon, since he was religiously tolerant). In 6:13, we read that Daniel nonetheless prayed three times a day. The rest of chapter 6 explains the result. - RBW
File: RcDanlPr

Daniel Sullivan [Laws E22]

DESCRIPTION: Daniel Sullivan offers himself as a warning against passion. As an infant, his mother dreamed of him hanging. Having gone abroad, he murders a man. Lonely and penitent, he is scheduled to die. He bids farewell to family and meets his fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: dream murder execution warning
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Laws E22, "Daniel Sullivan"
DT 833, DANSULL*
Roud #4728
File: LE22

Danny Boy (The Londonderry Air)

DESCRIPTION: The singer laments that her Danny Boy is called away. She promises to be waiting when he returns to her. Even if she dies, she will await him
AUTHOR: Words: Fred(eric) E. Weatherly?
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Petrie Collection); words written 1913
KEYWORDS: love separation
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 323, "Danny Boy" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 337, "Londonderry Air"
SHenry H3, p. 286, "The Londonderry Air" (1 tune, plus a text known not to have been traditional)
DT, DANNYBOY*
SAME TUNE:
O, Jeanie Dear (File: HHH545)
NOTES: Fuld reports that the name "Londonderry Air" came about because the tune "was collected by Miss J. Ross of the county of Londonderry." Little else seems to be known of its ancestry, though it has been used for many texts, few of them popular. Anne G. Gilchrist published an article, "A New Light upon the Londonderry Air" in JFSS (December 1934).
Fuld attributes the words to Fred Weatherly (1848-1929) without supporting documentation, and many people seem unaware of it. Weatherly has six poems attributed to him in Granger's Index to Poetry. "Danny Boy" is not one of then. Three of the pieces ("The Holy City," "The Angels to the Shepherds Sang," and "When the Christ Child Came") are religious; the others appear to be for children. None proved very popular.
Turning to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (13th edition), we find three Weatherly pieces, none of them the same as the ones quoted in Granger's -- though one of them, "Nancy Lee," has had some slight traditional popularity. But none have themes similar to this.
I have managed to acquire the sheet music for two other Weatherly pieces, "Roses of Picardy" and "The Holy City."
"The Holy City" was published in 1942 with music by Stephen Adams. It is a dream of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple and of a heavenly Jerusalem. It is not very original -- and feels both anachronistic and rather silly. I would not file it as great poetry.
"Roses of Picardy," published in 1916 with music by Haydn Wood. It is noteworthy that Wood's name is printed in far larger type than Weatherly. Yet Wood was hardly a big name. I checked five musical references to learn about him. Only one had an entry, and it brief. Percy A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music, ninth edition, corrected, Oxford, 1960, p. 1127, mentions him, giving as his whole biography, "Born near Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 1882 and died in London in 1959, aged seventy-six. He had a double career as a solo violinist and as a composer some of whose lighter pieces (e.g. Roses of Picardy) had a great vogue." I do note that Jerry Silverman included it in the Mel Bay book Ballads & Songs of WWI.
But "Roses of Picardy," as a poem, is banal (though I'd call it better than "The Holy City"); it's yet another song about an old man remembering his wife's early beauty and saying that, unlike the roses of Picardy to which he once compared her, he still loves her:
Roses are flow'ring in Picardy, but there's never a rose like you!
And the roses will die with the summertime, and our roads may be far apart,
But there's one rose that dies not in Picardy! 'tis the rose that I keep in my heart!
Bottom line: If Fuld's attribution is correct, this seems to have been a unique item for Weatherly in style as in popularity.
Robert Gogan, 130 Great Irish Ballads (third edition, Music Ireland, 2004), p. 129, offers some additional details which do seem to confirm Fuld's report. Weatherly, an English lawyer (!), wrote the lyrics for this song in 1910, and also wrote a tune. It went nowhere. When his sister-in-law sent him the tune for the "Londonderry Air," he decided to use that tune instead, and a hit was born.
Gogan adds a warning to barroom singers out there: "[This is] one of the most consistently murderered ballads I know, because amateur balladeers usually start singing it in too high a pitch for their voice[,] realizing (when it is too late) that they can't reach the high E note in the chorus. Keep that in mind; don't get caught out."
Given that the range of the song is an octave and a sixth (e.g. from the G below middle C to the E nine steps above that), little wonder that singers have trouble. I know of no traditional song requiring a wider range. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB323

Danny Sim's Sow

DESCRIPTION: "There was a drunken collier, they ca'd him Danny Sim." Danny, sent to buy feed for the sow, instead spends it drinking. His wife complains. He grabs a pick (pike?) and beats her. He offers a sow to the butcher, and sells his bruised wife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: drink animal abuse injury commerce
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, pp. 401-403, "Danny Sim's Sow" (1 text)
Roud #5616
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Scolding Wife (V)" (theme: sale of a wife)
cf. "Sale of a Wife" (theme)
cf. "In Praise of John Magee" (theme: sale of a wife)
NOTES: Although clearly meant to be funny, this strikes me as being about as humorous as mud.
For background on wife-selling, see the notes to "Sale of a Wife." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord401

Danny Winters

DESCRIPTION: "Danny Winters went a-courtin', hi, hey an' ho, Choosed a sweetheart with a red head, bow, bow low, Wed a redhead, wished himself dead, Dan Danny-O. "Danny Winters lay a-moanin... Redhead was too wild a partner... Wife a flyin', Dan a-dyin'...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage playparty
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 548, "Danny Winters" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 404-405, "Danny Winters" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 548)
Roud #7648
File: R548

Dans le berceau

See Entre le Boeuf et L'Ane Gris (Dans le Berceau, In the Manger) (File: BerV028)

Dans Les Chantiers (The Winter Camp)

DESCRIPTION: French: A complaint about life in a lumber camp -- Hard work in cold snowy weather, a bed on the icy ground, coupled with slow and insufficient pay. Finally the logger goes home to a happy reunion. He vows never to return to the lumber camp
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: logger work separation reunion foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Que) US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 70-71, "Dans Les Chantiers (The Winter Camp)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 23, "Dans Les Chantiers" (1 English and 1 French text,, 1 tune)
BerryVin, p. 66, "Dans les chantiers nous hivernerons (Voyagers)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (theme) and references there
NOTES: The editors of BerryVin suggest that the Vincennes version is older than the Canadian; it mentions a trader and merchant, M. Dubois, lived on the banks of the Wabash at the end of the 1700s. - PJS
Interestingly, I find no mention of this Dubois in William E Wilson, The Wabash, Farrar & Rinehart, 1940 (a volume in the Rivers of America series edited by Stephen Vincent Benet and Carl Carmer). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FJ070

Dans les prisons de Nantes (Within the Prisons of Nantes)

DESCRIPTION: French. A man is prisoner in Nantes. The jailer's daughter cries because he is to die next day. She unties him so he escapes. She is pregnant. On another shore he drinks and boasts of his escape.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage seduction warning escape rake prisoner
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Peacock, pp. 183-184, "Dans les Prisons de Nantes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 170, "Dans La Prison de Nantes" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Dans la Prison de Londres
NOTES: In Peacock's version the prisoner is on London Bridge; the escaped prisoner promises that, if he ever is in France he will have a dress made for her with gold buttons and they will embrace. In another version, all the girls of Nantes are taken prisoner.
The CD After the Tempest by Figgy Duff includes a different London version than Peacock's called, more reasonably, Dans la Prison de Londres: "Dans la prison de Londres Un prisonnier il y a" - BS
File: Pea183

Dans Tous Les Cantons (Through All the Country 'Round)

DESCRIPTION: French: The song notes how boys and girls are often talking of marriage... then highlights all the troubles they will face. The woman must scrub, cook, sew, and obey her husband; the man will find that his wife nags and spends his money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: marriage humorous husband wife foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 113-115, "Dans Tous Les Cantons (Through All the Country 'Round)" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FJ113

Danville Girl, The

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

Dar Gingo Tre Flickor

DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. Three girls discuss love; three sailors overhear and decide to pay a visit. The girls bar the door but the wind blows it open. They make a bed for the sailors who leave in the morning saying maidens will never regain their beauty.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sternvall, _Sang under Segel_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. Three girls are talking about love, three sailors overhear and decide to pay a visit. The girls bar the door but the wind blows it open. They make a bed for the sailors who leave in the morning saying maidens will never regain their beauty. There is a short chorus following each line of the verses "Fantali for Julia, fantali for Julia." and a longer chorus which translates, roughly, "For a little goblin was with them, It was so lion-like, They walked holding candles, and then took a pinch of snuff. Oh tjohalia, seamen are so amusing.
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor seduction
FOUND IN: Sweden
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 393-395, "Dar Gingo Tre Flickor" (2 texts-English & Swedish, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ane Madam" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Fantali for Julia
NOTES: There is a German version given in Baltzer's Knurrhahn, "Es Gingen Drei Madchen." - SL
File: Hug393

Dar'll Be No Distinction Dar

See There'll Be No Distinction There (File: CSW232)

Darahill

DESCRIPTION: "When I engaged to Darrahill, 'Twas low down in Buchan fair." The singer describes going to work for (Dara/Darra), whose horses are very poor and ill-fed. The workers aren't much better off. The singer looks forward to working for someone else
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1890 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming horse hardtimes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #133, pp. 1-2, "Darrahill"; Greig #135, p. 3, "Darrahill"; Greig #143, p. 2, "Darrahill" (3 texts)
GreigDuncan3 351, "Darrahill" (6 texts, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 276-277, "Darrahill" (1 text)
Roud #3941
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Barnyards o Delgaty" (tune) and references there
NOTES: GreigDuncan3, re version D: "Got from James Mackenzie of Ellon in Johannesburg in 1890."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Darahill (351) is at coordinate (h2,v9-0) on that map [roughly 11 miles N of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord276

Darby and Joan

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

Darby Kelly

DESCRIPTION: Grandfather Darby Kelly "beat a drum so neat" for Marlboro at Blenheim and Ramilie. His father drummed "when great Wolf died." The singer was with Wellington in Portugal and when "He made Nap prance right out of France"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 12(19))
KEYWORDS: army war nonballad patriotic Napoleon soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1701-1714 - War of the Spanish Succession, in which Marlborough was the chief English general for most of the war, commanding at the battles of:
Aug 13, 1704 - Battle of Blenheim. British/Imperial victory which saves Vienna.
May 23, 1706 - Battle of Ramillies. British and Imperials foil a French campaign to reinforce the Spanish Netherlands
1756-1763 - Seven Years War, in which the British captured Canada from the French, largely as a result of:
Sep 13, 1759 - Battle of the Plains of Abraham. James Wolfe attacks Quebec City; he is mortally wounded, but Canada is taken
1803-1815 - Napoleonic Wars. Many British officers commanded on land; the last and greatest was Wellington, who directed:
1808-1814 - the Peninsular War, which began as a campaign to defend Portugal and eventually became a war to liberate Spain
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo. Final defeat of Napoleon
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 155, "Darby Kelly" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 12(19), "Darby Kelly", J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Johnson Ballads fol. 109, Harding B 16(67a), Johnson Ballads 1557, 2806 c.18(80), Harding B 11(793), Harding B 11(794), "Darby Kelly"; Harding B 28(63), "Darby Kelly, O"; Harding B 25(469), Harding B 11(696), "Darby Kelly, O!"
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(696) notes provide the following military references for the grandfather, father, and singer, respectively: "Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, 1650-1722; Wolfe, James, 1727-1759; Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852" - BS
Given that the earliest possible date for this song is 1814 (when Napoleon abdicated for the first time), and a date after Waterloo (1815) is more likely, it seems clear that the broadsides cited are the original publication of the song in this form. Obviously, from the dates, Darby Kelly was a drummer boy, not an actual soldier, in the War of the Spanish Succession. Nonetheless, the range of dates would better suit four or five generations than three; one wonders if there wasn't an intermediate version, in which perhaps the grandson fought in the American Revolutionary War rather than the Napoleonic Wars. - RBW
File: OCon155

Darby O'Leary

DESCRIPTION: The singer is hired by Darby O'Leary to work at his Galbally mountains farm. The supper is sour milk, the barn "covered with rats," terrible sleeping conditions: "such woeful starvation I never yet seen ... May he or his offspring never live long"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: farming work ordeal
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 110, "The Silly Old Miser" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 57, "The Galbally Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrSNB110 (Partial)
Roud #6978
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Cranbally Farmer" (on Voice05)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(619), "The Spalpeen's Complaint of Darby O'Leary ("One evening of late as I happened to stray"), unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Creighton-SNewBrunswick is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(619) is the basis for the description. - BS
File: CrSNB110

Darby Ram, The

See The Derby Ram (File: R106)

Darger Lad, The

See I'm a Stranger in this Country (The Darger Lad) (File: RcIASITC)

Darius Cole and Mackinac, The

DESCRIPTION: "On the eighteenth of December, The weather it was far, The Darius Cole and Mackinac were crossing Lake St. Clair." The Darius Cole boats of being able to beat the Mackinac's time. They have a race
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (collected from J. Sylvester Ray by Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship racing
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 110-111, "The Darius Cole and Mackinac"(1 short text, composite but lacking any indication of which boat won the race)
File: WGM110

Dark and a Rovin' Eye, A

See The Fire Ship (File: EM068)

Dark and Dreary Weather

DESCRIPTION: "It's dark and dreary weather, Almost inclined to rain, My heart is almost broken, My lover has gone on the train!" The singer wonders why she loves him so much, and he loves her not at all. "Some say that love is a pleasure; What pleasure do I see?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921
KEYWORDS: love courting separation train suicide
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 750, "Dark and Dreary Weather" (4 texts, 1 tune)
BrownII 168, "Dreary Weather" (1 text)
Roud #6527
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Dark and Stormy Weather" (Bluebird B-8868, 1941)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Dark and Stormy Weather" (NLCR14)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (stanza form, floating lyrics)
cf. "Goodnight Irene" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Boys Won't Do to Trust" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Dark and Stormy Weather
NOTES: Many of Randolph's versions consist of more floating lyrics than anything else (including even the "jump into the river and drown" stanza best known from "Goodnight Irene"). The net result reminds me strongly of "Farewell He" -- but there seems to be no actual dependence, though the form of the verses is the same. Roud apparently agrees, since he splits the songs. - RBW
File: R750

Dark as a Dungeon

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you young fellows so young and so fine, And seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine." The singer describes how a miner's life slowly kills a man, twisting his soul and turning his blood black. He hopes to turn to coal when he dies
AUTHOR: Merle Travis
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (recorded by author)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes poverty mining death warning
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 155, "Dark as a Dungeon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 729, "Dark as a Dungeon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 172, "Dark as a Dungeon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Green-Miner, pp. 279-281, "Two by Travis": p. 284, "Dark as a Dungeon" (1 text, 1 tune); additional verse on p. 290
DT, DARKDUNG
Roud #6392
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Gore, "Dark as a Dungeon" (King 4879, c. 1957)
Grandpa Jones, "Dark as a Dungeon" (King 896, 1950)
Maddox Bros. & Rose, "Dark as a Dungeon" (4-Star 1540, 1956)
Pete Seeger w. Robert DeCormier, "Dark as a Dungeon" (on HootenannyTonight)
Merle Travis, "Dark as a Dungeon" (Capitol 48001, 1947; on 78 album "Folk Songs of the Hills", Capitol AD 50; rec. 1946)
File: LoF155

Dark Girl Dressed in Blue, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a "dark girl dressed in blue" on a stagecoach. She fools him into paying her fare. They go to a bar. She hands him a banknote to pay their bill. She leaves; he is arrested for passing a bad bill. He is freed but forced to pay the bill
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton?
EARLIEST DATE: 1868 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: money courting trick clothes
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 388, "The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue" (1 text plus a fragment)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 76-78, "The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, pp. 47-49, "The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue" (1 text)
ST R388 (Full)
Roud #7022
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(073), "The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue," unknown, c. 1860; also RB.m.168(133)
NOTES: The authorship here is an interesting question. It is not unlikely that the American versions derive from Harry Clifton, who was apparently the source of the 1868 sheet music.
But then there is the Scottish broadside, dated 1850-1870. It is undeniably the same song (same plot, same chorus, many of the same words). But it is set in Glasgow rather than New York, the vehicle is an omnibus rather than a stagecoach, etc. More significant, the woman is caught in the end, with a "reversible dress." Original or derivative? I could argue for either; each text has parts which appear to have been excised from the other. - RBW
File: R388

Dark Hollow (II), The

See Little Birdie (File: R676)

Dark Knight, The

DESCRIPTION: The knight courts "a lass all neat and fair" and takes her home, where she bears him six(?) sons and three daughters. He then kills the children. "She did not live another dawn," whereupon he seeks another bride
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: murder family madness children knight husband wife
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 59, "The Dark Knight" (1 text)
ST BrII059 (Full)
Roud #6526
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lawson Murder (Charlie Lawson)" [Laws F35] (plot)
NOTES: The notes in Brown show some signs of suspicion of this piece, found in the collection but with no indication of source; it also has some Scottish word forms they find unlikely. But it also shows clear signs of tradition.
There is also the question of source. The editors thought the story sounded familiar -- but couldn't locate it. I find the very lyrics familiar -- but I can't locate it either. - RBW
File: BrII059

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

DESCRIPTION: "Dark was the night and cold was the ground On which the Lord was laid; The sweat like drops of blood run down; In agony he prayed." Jesus asks to be released from his burden, but submits to God's will; listeners are advised to learn from him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1841 ("Primitive Hymns," publ. by Benjamin Lloyd)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus Bible death ordeal request
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 526, "Dark Was the Night" (3 texts, though the "C" text, which is rather short, might be another song)
Roud #11819
RECORDINGS:
John & Lovie Griffins, "Dark Was the Night, and Cold the Ground" (on MuSouth07)
Lucy McKeever, "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" (on AFS 921 B, 1937)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Frankie and Albert" [Laws I3] (lyrics)
NOTES: The request that God remove the cup from Jesus is found in all four Gospels (Matt. 26:42, Mark 14:26, Luke 22:42, cf. John 12:27). The main source, however, is probably Luke, because only Luke includes the bloody sweat.
At least, the King James translation does.
The reference is to Luke 22:43-44 -- verses which, however, are likely not part of Luke's original Greek; of the earliest seven Greek witnesses, six -- those known as P75 Aleph(1) A B T W -- omit, as do some later witnesses of great weight.Also, Jesus's prayer before his arrest is said to have taken place in a garden in John 18:1, but Gethsemane is not called a garden in the other three gospels -- and in John, Jesus had prayed for release from his fate rather earlier.
Incidentally, although Jesus was arrested at night, there is no reason to think the night was unusually dark (it was Passover time, after all, and Passover is a full moon festival); we have reports of darkness as Jesus died, but not at the time of his arrest, and there are no reports of bad weather at the time (not that that inherently means anything, of course). It reportedly was chilly, though, since Peter would warm his hands during the night (Mark 14:67, John 18:18). - RBW
The song appears in the Baptist Standard Hymnal (but not the New National Baptist Hymnal) as "Dark Was the Night" with arrangers' names listed, but no author. The song passed into folk tradition, and the title seems to have caught the imagination as well; the phrase appears in Mississippi John Hurt's recording of "Frankie and Albert" (!) and it's also used as the title of an extraordinary recording of slide guitar and wordless moaning by Blind Willie Johnson. - PJS
File: Br3526

Dark-Clothed Gypsy, The

See The Gypsy Laddie [Child 200] (File: C200)

Dark-Eyed Molly

See Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly) (File: R749)

Dark-Eyed Sailor, The (Fair Phoebe and her Dark-Eyed Sailor) [Laws N35]

DESCRIPTION: The singer courts a girl, but she remains true to William, her sailor, gone these seven years. William at last identifies himself and produces his half of their broken ring. The two are married and settle down
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1809 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 2483)
KEYWORDS: love courting brokentoken marriage
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(Lond,West)) Ireland
REFERENCES (25 citations):
Laws N35, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor (Fair Phoebe and her Dark-Eyed Sailor)"
Gardner/Chickering 57, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text plus 1 excerpt and mention of 2 more, 1 tune)
Gray, pp. 108-110, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, very damaged, plus a reprint of a Forth broadside)
Doerflinger pp. 300-301, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H232, p. 318, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 93, "The Broken Ring" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 120-122, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan5 1037, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Ord, pp. 323-324, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 95, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text (with mention of a variant collection) plus 1 excerpt)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 267-270, "Fair Phoebe and her Dark-Eyed Sailor" (3 texts; the first, "Young Willie's Return, or The Token," with tune on pp. 426-427, is this song; the second, "The Sailor," with tune on p. 427, is "John (George) Riley (II)" Laws N37; the third, "Billy Ma Hone," with tune on p. 427, seems to be its own song)
MacSeegTrav 26, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 144-146, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" ( 2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 29, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 36, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 513-514, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 55, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 27, "The Dark-eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 64, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 93-94,244, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 65, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 5, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 125-126, "The Dark Eyed Sailor" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 147, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (1 text)
DT 460, DARKEYED* DARKEYE2
Roud #265
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "Nightingales of Spring" (AFS 4198 A1, 1938; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Fred Jordan, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (on Voice02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2483, "Fair Phoebe and her Dark-ey'd Sailor," unknown [Printer's Series:(39)], 1767-1808; also Harding B 11(498), "Fair Phoebe and her Dark-Eyed Sailor," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; Harding B 11(499), Johnson Ballads 452, Firth c.18(141), Harding B 15(99a), Harding B 11(1120), Firth c.12(261), Harding B 11(1119), Harding B 11(3030), Harding B 16(84b), "Fair Phoebe and her Dark-Eyed Sailor"; Firth c.17(53), Harding B 11(2824), Firth b.27(475), "Fair Phoebe and her Dark-ey'd Sailor"; Harding B 16(326b), "Fair Phoebe and her Dark Eyed Sailor"; Firth b.25(142), Harding B 15(98b), "Fair Phoebe and her Dark Ey'd Sailor"; Harding B 11(3493), Johnson Ballads 1837, "Fair Phoebe, and the Dark-Eye'd Sailor"; Firth b.25(193), "Fair Phoebe and the Dark-Eyed sailor"; Harding B 15(99b), "Fair Phoeby and Her Dark Eyed Sailor"; Harding B 18(114), "Dark Ey'd Sailor" ("'Tis of a comely young lady, fair")
LOCSinging, as102640, "Dark Ey'd Sailor," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb10077b, "Dark Ey'd Sailor"
Murray, Mu23-y1:016, "The Dark-Eyed Sailor," R. M'Intosh (Calton), 19C; also Mu23-y1:102, "Fair Phoebe And Her Dark-Eyed Sailor," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
cf. "Brave Wolfe" [Laws A1] and references there (tune)
cf. "The Female Smuggler" (tune, per broadsides Bodleian Johnson Ballads 2483, Bodleian Harding B 11(498), Bodleian Harding B 11(499))
NOTES: Ford sings this to the tune usually associated with "The Blacksmith," which -- so far as I know -- hasn't been otherwise collected outside Britain except as "Brave Wolfe." - PJS
Lines shared with The Banks of Sweet Primroses: Young girl's be true while your love's at sea, For a dark cloudy morning Brings forth a pleasant day."
Broadside LOCSinging as102640: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LN35

Dark-Haired Girl, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer and a comrade go rambling on July 20, (18)39. They see a girl, whose beauty he praises extravagantly. He promises to be true to her. Though she is a servant and he is rich, "a pretty curl Will be all I want as dower from my dark-haired girl."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rambling beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H559, p. 237, "The Dark-Haired Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9471
File: HHH559

Dark-Haired Jimmy Owen

See Seimidh Eoghainin Duibh (Dark-Haired Jimmy Owen) (File: K046)

Darky School Song

See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

Darky Sunday School, The

See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

Darlin' (I)

DESCRIPTION: "If I'd a-known my captain was blind, darlin', darlin'... Wouldna gone to work till half past nine." The captain and the worker quarrel; the captain won't tell the time, and will throw him in jail if he argues. The singer wishes he had listened to mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: prison work hardtimes chaingang floatingverses
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 68, "Darlin'" (1 text)
DT, DARLNCAP
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Pay Me My Money Down" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Every word of this song floats -- so much so that I was tempted to list it as a variant of some other song. But the form is unique. It is probably someone's rework, but it's hard to tell what the "original" was. - RBW
File: FSWB068

Darlin' (II)

See New River Train (File: AF073)

Darlin' You Can't Have One

See New River Train (File: AF073)

Darling Cora

See Darling Corey (File: LxU087)

Darling Corey

DESCRIPTION: "Wake up, wake up, darling Corey, what makes you sleep so sound? The revenue officers are coming, Gonna tear your still-house down." The singer describes Corey's wild career as a moonshiner, and (dreams of) her death and burial
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: drink police death burial dream
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Fuson, pp. 134-135, "Little Cora" (1 text, an unusually full version though with several floating verses)
SharpAp 152, "The Gambling Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes, but only the "B" text is this song; the "A" text is "I Wonder Where's the Gambler")
Ritchie-Southern, p. 39, "Little Cory" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 87, "Darlin' Corey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 135, "Dig a Hole in the Meadow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 173, "Darlin' Corrie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 734, "Darling Cory" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 73, "Darlin' Corey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 193, "Darlin' Corey" (1 text)
DT, DARLCORY
Roud #5723
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Little Cory" (on LEnglish01)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Darlin Corey" (on Holcomb2, HolcombCD1)
Buell Kazee, "Darling Cora" (Brunswick 154, 1927); "Darling Corey" [fragment] (on Kazee01)
Pleaz Mobley, "Darling Cory" (AFS; on AAFS 69, LC14)
Monroe Brothers, "Darling Corey" (Bluebird B-6512, 1936; Victor 27493, 1941)
Pete Seeger, "Darling Corey" (on PeteSeeger02, PeteSeegerCD01)
B. F. Shelton, "Darling Cora" (Victor 35838, 1927; on ConstSor1)
Jack Wallin, "Darling Cora" (on Wallins1)
Doc Watson, Gaither Carlton & Arnold Watson, "Darling Corey" (on Watsons01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Maggie" (words)
cf. "Country Blues" (words)
cf. "Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind" (floating phrase)
File: LxU087

Darling Cory

See Darling Corey (File: LxU087)

Darling Little Joe

DESCRIPTION: The dying boy asks how life will be when he is dead, e.g. "Oh what will the birds do, mother, in the spring... Will they harp at the door... Asking why Joe wanders out no more?" The boy asks mother to care for his pets, and tells her he will be in heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1866 (sheet music, "The Death of Little Joe")
KEYWORDS: death children animal farewell
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 712, "Darling Little Joe" (3 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 460-461, "Darling Little Joe" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 712A)
Roud #3545
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Darling Little Joe" (Victor [Canada] CNV-102, n.d.); "Little Joe" (Decca 5632, 1939)
Bradley Kincaid, "Little Joe" (Montgomery Ward M-4457, 1934)
Monroe Brothers, "Little Joe" (Bluebird B-7598, 1938)
Charles Nabell, "Little Joe" (OKeh 40418, 1925)
BROADSIDES:
Levy 105.044, "The Death of Little Joe," G. Andre & Co., Philadelphia, 1866
LOCSheet, sm1876 10660, "Little Joe," Blackmar & Finney (New Orleans), 1876 (tune)
NOTES: Cohen notes two sheet music printings, one (dated 1876) crediting it to Charles E. Addison, the other (1866) by V. E. Marsten. Draw your own conclusions. - RBW
The 1866 sheet music lists V. M. Marston as the composer, with no information as to the lyricist. It includes a chorus ("Little Joe will soon, will soon be sleeping, sleeping calmly...") which does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS
Broadside LOCSheet sm1876 10660: "Composed and sung by Maj. Chas. E. Addison the noted Confederate Spy and Scout of Gen. John H. Morgan's Command." Attributed to the same author, and published the same year by the same publisher is
LOCSheet, sm1876 10661, "The Dying Message" ("Raise the window, Mother darling, Let the soft breeze fan me now," Blackmar & Finney (New Orleans), 1876 (tune) - BS
File: R712

Darling Little Pink

See Little Pink (File: San166)

Darling Neddeen

DESCRIPTION: O'Shaughnessy's song in praise of Neddeen: whales flap their tail to raise a breeze for birds; girls' eyes are so bright no gas lamps are needed in cabins; geese run around ready roasted; cows give whisky; ganders give milk; girls never grow old.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1823 (_The Freeholder_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: nonballad talltale animal bird whale
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 250-254, "Darling Neddeen" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sprig of Shillelah" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
cf. "Oleanna" (absurdist sorts of claims for the town)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "'Neddeen,' says Mr Weld,'is the principal place of trade on the Kenmare river ...' now generally known as Kenmare."
Croker-PopularSongs: "The Editor has no doubt that the authorship may be correctly assigned to the writer of 'O! Blarney Castle, my Darling', and the subsequent song entitled 'Darling Neddeen.'" But, at "O! Blarney Castle, my Darling" he "has no doubt" that its author also wrote "aint Patrick's Arrival." See that song if you are interested in Croker's speculations there." - BS
File: CrPS250

Darling Nelly Gray

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the time he spent with Nelly. But now "the white man has bound her with his chain;" he laments "Oh my darling Nelly Gray, they have taken you away And I'll never see my darling any more." He hopes they will be reunited after death
AUTHOR: B. R. Hanby
EARLIEST DATE: 1856 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1856 600230)
KEYWORDS: love separation slave
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Dean, p. 73, "Darling Nelly Gray" (1 text)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 53-56, "Darling Nelly Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 251, "Darling Nelly Gray" (1 text)
DT, NELLGRAY*
ST RJ19053 (Full)
Roud #4883
RECORDINGS:
Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Decca 1245, 1937)
The Carver Boys, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Paramount 3198, 1930)
Carroll Clark, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Columbia A-770, 1909)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Brunswick 185/Vocalion 5186 [as the Hill Billies], 1927)
W. W. MacBeth, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Brunswick 571, 1931; rec. 1929)
[Asa] Martin & [James] Roberts, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Perfect 12762/Banner 32306 [as by Asa Martin], 1931; Conqueror 7935, 1932)
McMichen's Melody Men, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Banner 32306, 1931; Conqueror 7965, 1932)
Metropolitan Quartet, "Darling Nellie Gray" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1860, n.d.)
Chubby Parker, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Supertone 9187, 1928)
Peerless Quartet, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Gennett 4532, 1919)
Roba Stanley [or Stanley Trio], "Nellie Gray" (OKeh 40271, 1925)
Henry Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners, "Nellie Gray" (OKeh 40211, 1924)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1856 600230, "Darling Nelly Gray," Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1856 (tune) [attributed to B. R. Hanby]
LOCSinging, as102660, "Darling Nelly Gray," Charles H. Anderson (Washington), 19C; also cw103950, "Nelly Gray"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Eumerella Shore" (tune)
cf. "Memphis Flu" (tune)
NOTES: This was the first popular success of Benjamin Russell Hanby (1833-1867), who eventually wrote some eighty songs. It is reported to be based on an actual event; a runaway slave named Joseph Shelby died at the Ohio home of Hanby's father. Shelby was hoping to raise money to win the freedom of another slave named Nelly Gray.
In one of the odd turns of history, Wharton's War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy , following one Mrs. A. T. Smythe, suggests Stephen Foster as the author; even if the sheet music did not disprove this, the anti-Slavery sentiment would surely do so. - RBW
File: RJ19053

Darling Old Stick

DESCRIPTION: Bull Morgan McCarthy inherits his brother's shillelah and fights with those he'd heard of as "informer" and "canary." Partly as result, partly as cause, he meets Kate. "I bought this gold ring, sir, And Kate to the priest I shall bring, sir"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1853 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(798))
KEYWORDS: marriage fight trial humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Mackenzie 137, "Bull Morgan McCarthy" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 51, "Darling Old Stick" (1 text)
Roud #3276
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(798), "The Darlin' Old Stick," John Ross (Newcastle), 1847-1852; also 2806 c.15(258), 2806 b.11(11), "The Darlin' Old Stick"; Harding B 20(34), Harding B 11(799), Harding B 11(797), "The Darlin' Ould Stick"; Harding B 11(1370), "Darling Old Stick"; Firth b.25(73), "The Darling Ould Stick"
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(300), "The Darlin' Old Stick," unknown, c.1870
SAME TUNE:
Teddy O'Toole (per broadside Bodleian Harding B 20(34))
File: Mack137

Darling Song

See My Mother's Last Goodbye (File: RcMMoLaG)

Darling You Can't Love but One

See New River Train (File: AF073)

Darra

DESCRIPTION: "First when I engaged, it was to [corn-dealer] Darrahill, It was to be his foreman, and feed the thrashing mill." Instead, he is put in a bothy with grueling work. He will go back to see Darrahill's "servant girlie that I am often wi'," but not Darrahill
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: courting lie work hardtimes farming worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 352, "Darra" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5901
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Darrahill
File: GrD3351

Darrahil

See Darahill (File: Ord276)

Dat's All Right

DESCRIPTION: Floating-verse with chorus "Dat's all right (x2), Dat's all right, babe, dat's all right. I'll be with you right or wrong; When you see a good thing, shove it right along...." Verses about visiting honey and seeing her dead or working for the rich folks
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: love death separation money floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 234-235, "Dat's All Right" (1 text)
File: ScNF234B

Daughter of Peggy-O, The

DESCRIPTION: Husband marries a wife who won't work; he beats her and threatens to yoke her to the plow. She submits.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: marriage abuse work humorous wife
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 29, "The Daughter of Peggy-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #117
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" [Child 277] (plot)
NOTES: Although there are strong similarities to "Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin", the class distinction does not appear, and neither does the sheepskin. I call it a different song. -PJS
In the absence of intermediate versions, I tend to agree. Although both songs have nonsense refrains, they are not the SAME nonsense refrains, and the stanza forms and lyrics are distinct. Though Roud, of course, lumps them. - RBW
File: VWL029

Daughters, Will You Marry

See Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me) (File: R493)

David Dodd

DESCRIPTION: "Drums were beating, troops were marching." "Captured by the Federal minions, As a hated Rebel spy," Dodd is asked to name his informant. The boy answers that he is prepared to die. "In the grave in old Mount Holly Lie the bones of David Dodd."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Allsopp)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar execution burial
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 231-232, (no title) (1 text)
ST FORA231 (Partial)
NOTES: Allsopp lists this under the heading "The Nathan Hale of Arkansas," and says that a school was dedicated in 1927 to the memory of David Dodd.
The story Allsopp tells is a little confused. His age is given as 17 when he was executed in 1864 -- yet he is called "too young to enlist." This is simply false -- by the end of the war, the Confederates were taking 15-year-olds. Either his age is wrong or he had avoided military service.
If Allsopp's account is true, he not only was serving as a courier but was spying on Union positions. It also sounds as if he could have told everything he knew without it doing the Confederates any harm; the Union army command was just too slow to react. But the kid seems to have been a romantic.
Allsopp's account gives few substantial details except that Dodd was executed in Little Rock.
Allsopp's account is in error in at least one particular: The Federal general in charge of the Department of Arkansas in 1864 was not General "Steel" but Major General Frederick Steele, 1819-1868. The fact that Steele was opposed by General Fagan seems to date the the incident to the Arkansas campaign of 1864; the general involved is James Fleming Fagan (1828-1893), a cavalry division commander. Dodd must therefore have been active some time between March 23 (when Steele set out) and April 30 (when Steele was forced to retreat largely as a result of Fagan's actions); the likeliest date would appear to be around April 20-25; it was on the latter date that Fagan hit Steele's supply line.
Steele's campaign is of course mentioned in most major Civil War histories (though usually only in connection with the Red River expedition of Banks, which it was supposed to support). I haven't found any mentions of Dodd, though.
I don't know whether this poem is a traditional song or not. But Allsopp lists no author, and the tale is very folkloric, so I have very hesitantly indexed the piece. - RBW
File: FORA231

David Ward

See Old David Ward (File: Be014)

David, David, Yes, Yes

See O David (File: LoF250)

David's Flowery Vale

DESCRIPTION: The singer sees the Armagh coach arrive; one of the passengers is a beautiful girl. He steps up to her, point out his family's wealth, and asks if she will come away with him. She says that she is not wealthy and is pledged to another
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (by John Hume, according to Leyden)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H212, p. 370, "Drummond's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leyden 12, "Young McCance" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2943
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "David's Flowery Vale" (on Voice01, IREButcher01)
Robert Cinnamond, "Young McCance" (on IRRCinnamond01)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Young McCance
NOTES: I have found no references to "David's Fountain" or "David's Flowery Vale" in maps of Ireland. There are, however, some clues. The lad and lass look at ships sailing to Chester (in western Britain). She comes from Hamiltonsbawn, and is riding the Armagh coach.
Hamiltonsbawn is almost due east of Armagh, half a dozen or so miles from the city center. It is not on any body of water. Armagh isn't on anything navigable, either. But the road from Armagh to Hamiltonsbawn heads on in the general direction of Belfast. Thus it seems likely that David's Flowery Vale is somewhere on the shores of the Belfast Lough. - RBW
Leyden: "John McCance, the owner of this splendid mansion [near Belfast], was born in 1772 and lived until 1835.... The song is correct in mentioning McCance's dwelling at the foot of Divis Mountain: he lived at Roselands on the Upper Falls before moving to Suffolk House in 1811." - BS
File: HHH212

David's Lamentation

DESCRIPTION: "David the king was grieved and moved, He went to his chamber, his chamber and wept. And as he went, he wept and said, 'Oh my son! Oh my son, would to God I had died, would to God I had died for thee, Oh Absalom, my son, my son."
AUTHOR: William Billings
EARLIEST DATE: 1840 (Missouri Harmony)
KEYWORDS: royalty death family Bible religious
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 412, "Oh, Absalom, My Son" (1 text)
DT, DAVLAMNT ABSALON*
Roud #15055
NOTES: The original William Billing song (of slightly uncertain date, though obviously in existence by the early nineteenth century) is taken almost verbatim from 2 Samuel 18:33. A second verse, rarely sung and not found in the Sacred Harp or the Missouri Harmony, is almost as close to 2 Samuel 19:2:
Vict'ry that day was turned into mourning
When the people did see how the King grieved for his son.
He covered his face and in a loud voice cried,
"Oh my son...."
I cannot absolutely prove that the round "Absalom My Son" is descended from the Billings piece; the words are straight from the Bible, after all. There is, however, melodic similarity (though not identity), and the Billings tune was designed as a fugue, which would encourage its conversion to a round. - RBW
File: FSWB412B

Davie and His Kye

See Davie and His Kye Thegither (File: Ord120)

Davie and His Kye Thegither

DESCRIPTION: Davie comes to his mother, "some good news to lat her ken." She warns against hasty marriage, but the wedding goes ahead. He and his wife fight; she breaks a pot over his head. The parson arrives, the wife hits him too, and he concedes Davie's misfortune
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage clergy humorous injury
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #113, p. 2, "Davie and His Kye" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1281, "Davie's Wooin'" (6 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, pp. 120-121, "Davie and His Kye Thegither" (1 text)
Roud #5545
NOTES: Greig says his copy is from A Kininmouth Lassie which GreigDuncan7 seems to correct to A Kininmonth Lassie.
GreigDuncan7: "Bell Robertson [1841-1922] says she read 'Davie and his Kye' when she was a lassie of about eight." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord120

Davie's Wooin'

See Davie and His Kye Thegither (File: Ord120)

Davy

DESCRIPTION: Dance tune; "Davy, Davy, where is Davy/Down in the henhouse eating up the gravy/Davy, Davy, where is Davy/Down in the chickenyard, sick on the gravy." (There may also be a "why can't a white man dance like a nigger" verse).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Weems String Band)
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad food discrimination
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 68, "Davy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CSW068 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Davy, Davy" (on NLCR01)
Weems String Band, "Davy" (Columbia 15300-D, 1928)
NOTES: This piece instantly makes me think of some of the versions of "Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn)." I can't prove any connection, though. It also bears some slight similarities to "Davy Crockett" -- but, again, nothing concrete, just isolated words. - RBW
Only, I think, the name. - PJS
George Lineberry, the husband of the grand-niece of "Uncle Dick" Weems and "Uncle Frank" Weems, explains how the song actually came about:
"The Weems String Band (Perry County, TN) traveled to Memphis, TN in 1928 where Columbia was recording groups for the potential '1928 version American Idol.' (NOT).
"[Their] musical numbers were instrumental -- not vocal arrangements. However, Columbia wanted lyrics, i.e. no lyrics -- no record. So the Weems String Band went back to the hotel, created some lyrics (kind of) for their two songs: 'Greenback Dollar' and 'Davy' (sometimes referred to as 'Davy, Davy'). The lyrics met the minimum requirement, but both songs remained basically instrumentals.
"The next day they returned to Columbia's 'studio' and recorded both songs, resulting in their only record."
The New Lost City Ramblers proceeded to bowdlerize the song to within an inch of its life (Lineberry's transcription is in the Supplemental Tradition, and it will demonstrate why they did so). Had the Ramblers known its story, they probably would have just played it as an instrumental. Though the instrumental style also apparently puzzled them, based on the notes in Cohen/Seeger/Wood. Lineberry's comments may explain that, too: A third Weems, Jess, played bowed 'cello. - RBW
File: CSW068

Davy Crockett

DESCRIPTION: Davy and/or the singer engage in various improbable activities such as hunting coons without a gun. The singer and Davy have a fight and agree to a draw: "I was hard enough for him, and so was he for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Belden); "Pompey Smash" appeared 1847 in Lloyd's Ethiopian Song Book
KEYWORDS: nonsense humorous hunting fight
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Belden, p. 339, "Davy Crockett" (1 stanza)
Randolph 423, "Davy Crockett" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 338-340, "Davy Crockett" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 423A)
Combs/Wilgus 168, pp. 182-183, "Davy Crockett" (1 text)
JHCox 177, "Davy Crockett" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 251-253, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DAVCROCK
Roud #3589
RECORDINGS:
Chubby Parker, "Dav[e]y Crockett" (Conqueror 7895, 1931; on StuffDreams1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Settin' on a Rail" (lyrics)
NOTES: Obviously not to be confused with the pop song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."
Randolph says that this piece is derived from the minstrel piece "Pompey Squash," (called "Pompey Smash" by Cox). This is clearly true of Randolph's "B" text and less obviously so in the case of the Lomax text; I am not certain in the case of the other versions. I might theorize that Randolph's text is a hybrid. - RBW
File: R423

Davy Faa (II)

See The Gypsy Laddie [Child 200] (File: C200)

Davy Faa (Remember the Barley Straw)

DESCRIPTION: (A man courts a neighbour's daughter by disguising himself as) a tinker. The tinker follows the girl into bed and sleeps with her. (He departs, leaving her with a rich fee, giving his name as Davy Faa/Shaw. Her father seeks a husband for her)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1895 (Baring-Gould)
KEYWORDS: disguise seduction sex trick abandonment money father rape tinker bastard
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Bronson 279, "The Jolly Beggar" (37 versions, but #28 is "Davy Faa (Remember the Barley Straw)")
Kennedy 188, "Remember the Barley Straw" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan7 1473, "The Tinker Loon" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT, DAVYFAA* BARLSTRW
Roud #118
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tramps and Hawkers" (tune)
cf. "Paddy West" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Barley Straw
NOTES: I've never really been sure whether this song involves rape or not. It's clear that the girl gets the worst of it, though.
It will be observed that the only parts of this song that are constant are the tinker and the seduction. No doubt various attempts at bowdlerization account for some of this, but there does seem to be some mixture involved as well. - RBW
I suggest renaming this main entry; as far as I know, only in one version of the song (Jeannie Robertson's) is the man (or the song) named Davy Faa, while "The Barley Straw" or variants thereon seem relatively common. More important, I'd rather avoid confusion with the more common "Davy Faa", aka "The Gypsy Laddie." Also, the tune given in Kennedy isn't that of "Tramps and Hawkers/Paddy West", and I'm not sure it's been collected from tradition with that tune (Jean Redpath doesn't count.) - PJS
All true, except that the Robertson/Redpath versions seems to be the ones everyone knows. Which is why I used the title I did. And while Robertson's tune is not "Tramps and Hawkers," it has similarities.
Roud lumps this with Child #279, "The Jolly Beggar." The similarity in plot is obvious. So is the dissimilarity in form. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K188

Davy Lowston

DESCRIPTION: "My name is Davy Lowston, I did seal, I did seal." Lowston and crew are left to hunt seal; the which is to retrieve them is wrecked. After much privation, the survivors are rescued by the Governor Bligh. Lowston advises against sealing
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (Bailey & Roth, Shanties by the Way)
KEYWORDS: hunting wreck disaster hardtimes rescue New Zealand ordeal
FOUND IN: New Zealand
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, DAVYLOWS
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We Will Not Go to White Bay with Casey Any More" (plot)
NOTES: This song is a mostly-true story, though there has been a lot of confusion along the way. The best summary seems to be from "The Story of David Lowston, a pre-colonial NZ song," an article by Frank Fyfe published in the Journal of New England Folklore in 1970 and now available online at the New Zealand folklore web site.
All dates in what follows are somewhat uncertain. I'm going to leave out all the "probablies" and just summarize.
It was in 1809 that the brig Active, Captain John Bader (corrupted to Bedar in the song, probably for metrical reasons) advertised for hands. The Active sailed from Sydney on December 11, 1809; on February 16, 1810, a party of ten sealers under David Lowrieston was left on an island off New Zealand. They had relatively few supplies; Bader promised to return soon with more, but the Active was never seen again.
The sealing crew had to survive by hunting seals and digging up roots; they seem to have been amazingly inept, watching two boats destroyed, but despite their privations (and the implication of the song), none of them actually died. They were rescued by the Governor Bligh, and arrived in Sydney on December 15, 1813.
The rest of Fyfe's speculation must be taken with a grain of salt. He believes the song to be based on "Captain Kidd," and there are obvious resemblances of form. However, "Davy Lowston" as it was collected (from an American, of all things) is not sung to "Captain Kidd," and while several of the musical phrases are similar, others are strikingly different.
Indeed, "Davy Lowston" cannot be sung to the usual "Captain Kidd"/"Wondrous Love" by any amount of squeezing, as the following analysis will show; I print the common text of "Davy Lowston," and note the differing number of syllables in "Captain Kidd."
My name is Davy Lowston (1 extra syllable in DL; could perhaps be adapted -- though Fyfe argues that the original was "My name is David Lawrieston," which would never fit no matter what squeezing applied)
I did seal, I did seal (compatible)
My name is Davy Lowston, I did seal. (compatible)
Though my men and I were lost (1 extra syllable in DL; could be adapted)
Though our very lives it cost (1 fewer syllable in DL, hard to adapt)
We did seal (2 fewer syllable in DL, no adaption possible)
We did seal, we did seal. (compatible with some versions of Captain Kidd).
I allow the possibility that "Davy Lowston" is derived from Captain Kidd, or one of its folk relatives, but it's far from certain. - RBW
File: DTdavylo

Davy, Davy

See Davy (File: CSW068)

Dawning of the Day (I), The [Laws P16]

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a milk-maid at the dawn of day, seduces her despite her reluctance, and leaves her. Months later they meet again; she asks him to marry her, but he answers that he has married a rich girl. She warns against such rovers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.11(56))
KEYWORDS: seduction warning poverty betrayal
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws P16, "The Dawning of the Day"
Ord, p. 163, "The Dawning of the Day" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1312, "The Dawning of the Day" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 56, "The Dawning of the Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 498, DAWNDAY
Roud #370
RECORDINGS:
Cathie Stewart, "The Dawning of the Day" (on SCStewartsBlair01) (a fragmentary version, ending with the girl's reluctance)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(56), "Dawning of the Day," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(2026), Harding B 6(4), Harding B 25(480), Johnson Ballads fol. 412 View 1 of 2, Harding B 11(806), 2806 c.8(283), 2806 c.16(25), 2806 b.11(197), Harding B 26(119) [badly faded], Harding B 11(804), Harding B 11(803), Harding B 16(69a), Harding B 17(73a), Firth c.13(301), Harding B 11(805), Harding B 20(23), Harding B 17(72b), Harding B 16(69b), "[The] Dawning of the Day"
LOCSinging, as102690, "Dawning of the Day," L. Deming (Boston), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(148), "The Dawning of the Day," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c.1853
File: LP16

Dawsonville Jail

DESCRIPTION: Singer is told by Sheriff Glen Wallace that he's "a little too full." He is taken to jail. His friend Shorty objects but is arrested too; they work on the sheriff's chicken farm, and the food is bad. They swear they'll drink no more.
AUTHOR: Words: L. D. Snipes & Shorty Lunsford; tune: traditional
EARLIEST DATE: 1982 (recording, Ray Knight)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer gets up, but is told by Sheriff Glen Wallace that he's "a little too full." He heads for town; Wallace & his deputy, Toy, come to arrest him and take him to jail. His friend Shorty objects but is arrested too; they work on the sheriff's chicken farm, and the food is bad -- "the peas was green and the meat was fat." They fall on their knees and swear they'll drink no more. Released, they advise that "before we take a drink we'd better look twice." Refrain: "Comin' for to carry me home"
KEYWORDS: warning farming crime prison punishment drink friend police prisoner
FOUND IN: US(SE)
Roud #4960
RECORDINGS:
Ray Knight w. Ed Teague & Art Rosenbaum, "Dawsonville Jail" (on FolkVisions2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (tune, refrain)
cf. "Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane" (lyrics)
cf. "Cryderville Jail" (subject)
NOTES: Clearly not a traditional song, but I include it because (a) the form, structure and style are traditional, and (b) it uses tune, structure and refrain from a traditional song, and borrows a floating verse from another. It's *not* "Cryderville Jail"; in fact, according to the liner notes, the writers, who knew that song, deliberately chose a different structure. - PJS
File: RcDawsJa

Dawtie, The

DESCRIPTION: Jenny loves Johnny but "cannot, munnet marry yet! My peer auld mudder's unco bad." Johnny says he loves Jenny and would not wait. She would wait a year. Her mother says she'll die soon and sobs when Jenny is out of sight.
AUTHOR: Robert Anderson (source: Whistle-Binkie)
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Whistle-Binkie)
KEYWORDS: age courting travel dialog mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan4 899B, "I Canna, Mauna Marry Yet" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Rodger, editor, Whistle-Binkie, Fourth Series (Glasgow, 1842), pp. 109-110, "The Dawtie"
Roud #6255
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Haughs of Crumdale" (tune, per Whistle-Binkie)
File: GrD4899B

Day Columbus Landed Here, The

DESCRIPTION: "I never shall forget the day Columbus landed here. Myself and forty Indians were standing on the pier.... 'Twas I who built the Rockies up and placed them where they are; Sold whiskey to the Indians behind my little bar"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale bragging
FOUND IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 178-179, "The Day Columbus Landed Here" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ178 (Partial)
Roud #4546
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (Bragging Song)"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Never Shall Forget
The Old Timer's Song
File: FJ178

Day I Went to Rothesay O, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer and Maggie go to Rothesay and dance to a fiddle on the shore. Maggie changes into a blue gown to swim. She rides a donkey and breaks her dress hoops. That made her sad until "a kiss and a cuddle" made her feel better on their way home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: love travel clothes shore dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan2 289, "The Day I Went to Rothesay O" (1 text)
Roud #2142
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rothesay-O" (lyrics)
NOTES: I have split this from "Rothesay-O" because the story is entirely different though the chorus is the same. One obviously provided the pattern for the other.
Rothesay is on the Island of Bute, west of Glasgow. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD2289

Day is Past and Gone, The

DESCRIPTION: "The day is past and gone, The evening shades appear, Oh, may we all remember well The hour of death is near." The singer, preparing to sleep, things ahead to the sleep of death and asks to be taken to God when the time comes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ritchie)
KEYWORDS: death religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ritchie-Southern, p. 46, "The Day is Past and Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5718
File: RitS046

Day of Judgment, The

DESCRIPTION: "And the moon will turn to blood (x3), In that day. Oh you, my soul, And the moon will turn to blood in that day." "And you'll see the stars a-falling." "And you'll hear the saints a-singing." "And the Lord will say to the sheep ... go to him right hand."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 53, "The Day of Judgment" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12013
NOTES: The verses of this song all come pretty directly from the various Biblical apocalypses:
The moon turning to blood is from Rev. 6:12; Acts 2:20 also says the moon will turn to blood, citing Joel 2:31. In addition, Mark13:24=Matt. 24:29 tells of the moon not giving light.
The very next sentence in Matthew and Mark (Matt. 24:29, Mark 13:25) tells of the stars falling, as does Rev. 6:13. In addition, Rev. 8:10-11 tells of the great star Wormwood falling from the sky to the earth bringing destruction, and another evil star falls in 9:1, and in 12:4 the dragon is sweeping stars from the sky.
We find saints singing around the throne of God in 15:3, where "those who had conquered the Beast" gather; in addition, the elders sing around the throne in Rev. 5:9, 11:17, and someone (it's not entirely clear who) is singing in Rev. 14:3. The creatures before the throne sing in Rev. 4:8. (As you can probably tell, there is a lot of singing in the Revelation to John.)
The last three verses, about the Lord talking to the sheep and the goats, refers specifically to the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:32-45 (at the end of Matthew's apocalypse), which I've seen described as one of the most frightening parables in the New Testament. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG053

Day of Waterloo, The

DESCRIPTION: "Revolving time has brought the day That beams with glory's brightest ray In history's page or pet's lay -- The day of Waterloo." The singer urges the British to rejoice in the humbling of France, and praises Wellington and his soldiers
AUTHOR: "Lieutenant Skinner" ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord), from a notebook dated 1817
KEYWORDS: soldier battle nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, p. 303, "The Day of Waterloo" (1 text)
Roud #2184
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scots Wha Hae (Bruce Before Bannockburn)" (tune)
File: Ord303

Day That I Played Baseball, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, my name it is O�Houlihan, I�m a man that's influential." He normally lives a quiet life, but one day is convinced to play baseball. He strikes out, he hits fouls but runs the bases anyway; he ends up drunk and on a cattle train
AUTHOR: Pat Rooney
EARLIEST DATE: 1878 (sheet music, titles "The Day That I Played Base Ball")
KEYWORDS: humorous sports
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 58-59, "The Day That I Played Baseball" (1 text)
Roud #4961
File: Dean057

Day We Packed the Hamper for the Coast, The

DESCRIPTION: About the great difficulties a couple has "the day we packed the hamper for the coast." First the food is loaded in extravagant quantities. Then the wife tries to add cooking utensils; the husband proposes adding the cat. And so forth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: travel husband wife humorous food fight
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H488, pp. 501-502, "The Day We Packed the Hamper for the Coast" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9466
NOTES: The Sam Henry text (the only one known; I suspect Henry's informant was close to the author) seems to end in mid-song, with the hamper full but nothing much happening. I suspect an explosion -- either of the hamper or of the quarreling couple -- followed. - RBW
File: HHH488

Day We Went to Rothesay-O, The

See Rothesay-O (File: K282)

Days Are Awa That I Hae Seen, The

DESCRIPTION: In words familiar from many songs, the girl says that she has been jilted through no real fault of her own. Her lover had bid her farewell. She will dress well and show no sorrow, and vows she will love him no more.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting farewell abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1136, "Begone, Bonnie Laddie" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, p. 179, "The Days Are Awa That I Hae Seen" (1 text)
Roud #5530
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
cf. "A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing)" [Laws O35] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Went to Meet My True Love
I've Got Sweethearts
Come Back, Bonnie Laddie
NOTES: This is one of those songs that seems to be assembled entirely out of floating materials. The first stanza in Ord's version, "The flowers are bonnie and the trees are green, But the days are away that I hae seen," is of course reminiscent of "A-Growing." Both the first and second stanzas have parts reminiscent of "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight." The overall effect is more like "Farewell He." And a couple of lines remind me of "No, Never, No."
The combined effect seems to be unique, though. - RBW
GreigDuncan6 quoting Duncan: "From a young man called 'George' twenty-five years ago. Noted 29th June 1908." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord179

Days in Old Penobscot Stream, The

DESCRIPTION: "Out in Boston City In the middle of July," 25 lumberjacks leave for the camps. They arrive in Suhomuck by the Penobscot. The work goes well for a week -- until it starts raining. The food is mostly beans. The singer ironically praises boss and cook
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Gray)
KEYWORDS: logging work cook food
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gray, pp. 70-71, "The Days in Old Penobscot Stream" (1 text)
File: Gray070

Days of '49, The

See The Days of Forty-Nine (File: R198)

Days of Forty-Nine, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer, "Old Tom Moore from the Bummer's Shore," a relic of the California gold rush of 1849, recalls the various characters that he encountered "in the days of old when we dug up the gold"
AUTHOR: Charles Bensell ("Charley Rhoades") ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1874 (The Great Emerson's New Popular Songster)
KEYWORDS: gold mining drink death moniker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1849 - Beginning of the California gold rush
FOUND IN: US(MA,So,SW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 198, "The Days of Forty-Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 12, "The Days of Forty-Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 91, "The Days of 'Forty-Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 54, "The Days of '49" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 285, "The Days of Forty-Nine" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 172-174, "The Days of '49" (1 text)
DT, DAYSOF49*
Roud #2803
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "The Days of Forty-Nine" (Victor 21627, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4463, 1933)
Logan English, "The Days of '49" (on LEnglish02)
"Yankee" John Galusha, "Days of '49" (on USWarnerColl01)
File: R198

Days of Seventy-Six, The

DESCRIPTION: "The days of '76, boys, We ever must revere, Our fathers took their muskets then To fight for freedom dear.... Oh 'tis a great delight to march and fight As a Yankee volunteer." Battles of the Revolutionary War are recalled, and potential enemies warned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: war freedom nonballad America rebellion
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 18, 1775 - Battle of Lexington. A British force routs the American Minutemen. The colonials gain some revenge as the Redcoats advance on Concord
Dec 25, 1776 - Washington leads his troops across the Delaware to rout the British at Trenton
Oct 17, 1777 - Saratoga. British General John Burgoyne, advancing from Canada into New York, is forced to surrender when the British forces in the mid-Atlantic region do not undertake their planned advance
Oct 19, 1781 - Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown causes the British to give up hope of reconquering America
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-FSNA 19, "In the Days of '76" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6666
File: LoF019

Days of the Past Are Gone, The

DESCRIPTION: "The harness hangs in the old log barn, The wagon rots in the shed...." "For we've caught up with the Joneses now, with a fine new car and a truck...." "Them were the days when We were young and able. We rode good broncs, and we had fast dogs...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: age cowboy recitation
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 91, "The Days of the Past Are Gone" (1 text)
File: Ohr091

Days of the Week

See A Week's Matrimony (A Week's Work) (File: Pea322)

Daysman, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer quits as day labourer for bad wages, takes his only fiver and goes to a hiring fair, but receives no bid. He spends the five on a maid pretending to hire him. Now he's back at the same wages as before, but without his fiver.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (IREButcher01)
KEYWORDS: sex lie money work drink
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #2942
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "The Daysman" (on IREButcher01)
File: RcDaysm

De Ballet of de Boll Weevil

See The Boll Weevil [Laws I17] (File: LI17)

De Blues Ain't Nothin'

See Blues Ain' Nothin, De (File: San234)

De Boatman Dance

DESCRIPTION: A minstrel song about a boatman's life, observing that there is no one like a boatman. "O dance, de boatman, dance all night 'till broad daylight, And go home wid de gals in de morning. Hi, ho, de boatman row, Floating down de ribber on de Ohio"
AUTHOR: Daniel Decatur Emmett
EARLIEST DATE: before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.22(54)), but reportedly copyrighted 1843
KEYWORDS: dancing river minstrel ship sailor
FOUND IN: US(SE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Hugill, pp. 492-493, "Dance the Boatman" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 484, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Boatman's Dance" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 223, "Hi You Boat Row" (1 fragment)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 566, "De Boatman Dance" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 39, "Boatman's Dance" (1 text)
DT, BOATDANC*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Dance the Boatman Dance" is in Part 1, 7/14/1917.
Roud #5898
RECORDINGS:
Elizabeth Cotten, "Boatman Dance" (on Cotten02)
Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Boatman's Dance" (Gennett, unissued, 1930)
Eleazar Tillet, "Come Love Come" (on USWarnerColl01) [a true mess; the first verse is "Nancy Till", the chorus is "Come, Love, Come, the Boat Lies Low," and it uses part of "De Boatman Dance" as a bridge.)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.22(54), "The Boatman of de Ohio" ("De boatman dance, de boatman sing"), G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Firth b.25(239), "Dance de Boatmen"; Harding B 15(81b), Harding B 11(352), Firth b.28(38) View 1 of 2 [almost entirely illegible], "[De] Boatman Dance"; Firth b.25(595/596) View 1 of 2, "The Boatmen Dance"; Harding B 11(1117), "Boatman's Dance"
LOCSheet, sm1844 390930, "De Boatman Dance, Ethiopian Ballad," C. G. Christman (New York), 1844 ["by Philip Ernst"]; also sm1848 441710, "De Boatmen's Dance" (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Seeing the Elephant (When I Left the States for Gold)" (tune)
File: BMRF566

De Fust Banjo

See De Fust Banjo (The Banjo Song; The Possum and the Banjo; Old Noah) (File: R253)

De Shucking ob de Corn

DESCRIPTION: Named for the chorus, "Ain't you goin' (x3) to de shuckin' ob de corn? Yes, I'se goin' (x3)... to de shuckin ob de corn." Verses are various: White children go to school to learn, negroes to fight; a beau offers his love gold; Satan tempts the singer
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: work food courting floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 199, "De Shucking ob de Corn" (1 text plus a fragment of the chorus)
File: Br3199

De Valera

DESCRIPTION: The singer favors the republic rather than Redmond's Home Rule. "At Ringsend in Boland's De Valera took his stand." "We'll carry arms openly as in the days of yore The defence of the realm won't be heard of anymore When De Valera's president of Ireland"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: rebellion England Ireland nonballad patriotic political
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 24, "De Valera" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pride of Petravore" (tune, according to Tunney-StoneFiddle)
NOTES: de Valera -- Eamon de Valera (1882-1975) was born in America but became a leader of the 1916 rising, and barely avoided execution after its collapse. He became the President of Sinn Fein in 1917, then of the rebel Irish parliament; he opposed the treaty which led to the partition of Ireland, but formed the Fianna Fail party and won the 1932 election, then established the 1937 constitution. He remained Ireland's leading politician for fifty years, serving as President from 1959 to 1973. - RBW
John Redmond (1856-1918) led the Home Rule Party. The Home Rule issue, which might have caused an Irish Civil War, was made a side issue during the World War, and Redmond's political fate was sealed by the Easter Rising. After the war the Home Rule party lost lost power to Sinn Fein. (source: John Redmond at the History Learning Site)
During the Easter Rising, in April 1916, Eamon de Valera led the Irish Republican Brotherhood [IRB] Third Battalion attack at "Boland�s Mills, with outposts from Westland Row Station to Ringsend and at Mount Street Bridge." (source: Dublin Flames Kindled A Nation's Spirit: Extract from Irish Independent 1916-66 Supplement at IrelandOn-Line site) - BS
(I have to disagree with the History Site's interpretation of Redmond pretty strongly. The strong majority of histories I have read say that the largest group in Ireland in the period 1880-1915 was in favor of Home Rule. The only threat of civil war was from the Ulster Protestants. General Irish opinion did not begin to shift until after the British botched the response to the 1916 Easter Rising. Ireland *did* have a Civil War in the 1920s, and it was the de Valera faction who started it, attacking the legitimate government. Poor John Redmond, who ended up picking up the pieces of the Parnellite fiasco, tried to find a solution which would satisfy both sides -- Home Rule. The British muffed *that*, too, and Redmond died too soon to find another answer, and of course it's easy, now that Ireland is independent, for people to say they were for it all along, meaning that many songs that were once the province of a militant -- even terrorist -- minority are now the general property of the Irish people.)
(For the background to this controversy, see the notes to "Home Rule for Ireland" and "Loyal Song Against Home Rule." For how it worked out, including the start of the Irish Civil War, see "General Michael Collins." For more on the relations between de Valera and the government he both helped found and fought against, see "Legion of the Rearguard.")
The reference to the "defence of the realm" could have two interpretations, depending on the exact dating of the song. If it is during World War I, it might refer to the British attempts to raise troops in Ireland. First they picked up volunteers -- with little success; according to Chandler/Beckett, p. 243, less than 11% of eligible Irish men volunteered, compared to about 25% of those in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Volunteerism having failed to supply enough corpses for Douglas Haig and his staff of butchers, the British then started trying to impose conscription -- yet another stupid move that helped to turn Ireland against them.
If, on the other hand, the song is in fact from the time it was collected, then the comment about defence presumably refers to the fact that the British, under the Free State treaty, kept control of a handful of ports for naval use. Ports which they eventually gave back to Ireland when de Valera and Neville Chamberlan were running Ireland and England (OxfordCompanion, p. 550). It was one of Chamberlain's less-noticed mistakes; it made the Battle of the Atlantic much more deadly for Britain. Had he just promised to turn them over, say, ten years later, it might well have shortened World War Two.)
Eamon de Valera is one of the great enigmas of history. Like Joan of Arc, or Richard III, or Julius Caesar, he inspires violently conflicting opinions. Coogan's monumental biography on, p. 2 describes how difficult it is to sum him up:
"'Dev.' was the greatest political mover and shaker of post-revolutionary Ireland. His towering figure continues to cast shadows that are both benign and baleful. Therefore, as a biographer, I have been conscious of the two linked and major problems in the course of trying to chart the career of this extraordinary man: First, to convey a sense of his importance to Ireland and her relationships with Great Britain, America and the members of the British Commonwealth; second, while doing so to steer between the Scylla of hagiography and the Charybdis of denigration. Practically everything of substance written about him falls into one category or the other. There is no via media where Eamon de Valera is concerned. The problem is compounded by the fact that not only did de Valera shape history, he attempted to write it too...."
The difficulty, I think, is that de Valera was a man who operated by assumptions -- that Ireland was somehow unique, that the Catholic Church was absolutely correct and great (except where he disagreed with it), that the British were the enemy and extremely untrustworthy, and that he was himself a moderate steering between the radical Cathal Brugha and the realist Michael Collins factions of the Irish independence movement. All of these are, of course, just assumptions, and how one interprets de Valera will depend entirely on how many of those assumptions one accepts. - RBW
Bibliography

Chandler/Beckett: David Chandler, general editor; Ian Beckett, associate editor, The Oxford History of the British Army, 1994 (I use the 1996 Oxford paperback edition)
Coogan: Tim Pat Coogan, Eamon de Valera: The Man Who Was Ireland, 1993 (I use the 2001 Dorset Press edition)
OxfordCompanion: S. J. Connolly, editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford, 1998

Last updated in version 2.5
File: TSF024

De'il Stick the Minister

DESCRIPTION: "Our wife she keeps baith beef and yell And tea to treat the Minister... While I the water-stand maun try, May the De'il stick the Minister." The minister can explain the Covenant and curse Papists, but he's otherwise grasping and useless
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: clergy curse humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 116-117, "De'il Stick the Minister" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR116 (Partial)
Roud #3153
NOTES: Although reported seemingly only in Northumberland, the references to the Covenant seem to imply Scottish origin. As, for that matter, does the clear anti-clericalism. (Though we might note that the Covenanting army long was engaged around Newcastle and other parts of Northumberland.) I'm amazed it doesn't quote the passages in Matthew and James which condemn the clergy. Apparently The Minister didn't preach those passages to the congregation. - RBW
File: StoR116

Deacon's Calf

DESCRIPTION: The deacon goes out to feed his calf; it kicks over the bucket and the deacon too. He reviles it; were it not for Christian love, he'd tear the calf's miserable soul apart. Ch.: "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha, what makes the monkey laugh/To see the deacon feed his calf"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Georgia Yellow Hammers)
KEYWORDS: curse farming humorous animal clergy
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Georgia Yellow Hammers, "The Deacon's Calf" (Victor V-40004, 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Le Petit Moine (The Little Monk)" (subject)
cf. "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" (floating lyrics)
File: RcDCalf

Deacon's Daughter, The

DESCRIPTION: A young man is engaged to a "treacherous" deacon's daughter. Just before the wedding, in the middle of the night, the lady runs off with her blacksmith lover. The final stanzas tell how those left behind piously wring their hands
AUTHOR: Wheeler Hakes?
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: betrayal elopement marriage
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders/Olney, pp. 23-25, "The Deacon's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DEACDAUT*
Roud #4674
File: FO023

Dead Horse Chanty

See Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse) (File: Doe014)

Dead Horse, The

See Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse) (File: Doe014)

Dead Little Boys, The

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

Dead Man's Chest

DESCRIPTION: "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, Drink and the devil had done for the rest." A combination of rebellion and civil war in a (pirate?) crew results in the death of captain, bosun, cook, and most of the rest of the crew.
AUTHOR: Allison & Waller ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1915
KEYWORDS: death murder rebellion pirate
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 512-514, "The Buccaneers (The Dead Man's Chest)" (1 text)
DT, YOHOHO*
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest
Yo Ho Ho
NOTES: The origin of this piece is more than usually confused. The initial quatrain appears in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883), but he reports that he had it from another source. (According to David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life among the Pirates, Harcourt Brace, 1997 [copyright 1995], p. 5, the Dead Man's Chest comes from Charles Kingsley's At Last.)
In 1901, the full form of the piece is said to have appeared in a musical by Allison & Waller. Did they write it? I don't know. The Lomaxes printed their version from Seven Seas, September 1915. Apparently no author was listed.
Chances are that this is not a folk song, but it may have folk roots somewhere. - RBW
File: LxA512

Dead Man's Journey, The

DESCRIPTION: It was in the spring of (?) Just a little before the war was o'er, That 'twas mine the mail bags to transport." The singer and Josh Murphy set out from Stevenson's Post; Murphy is killed by Indians. The path comes to be called Deadman's Journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: travel Indians(Am.) murder
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 140-141, "(The Dead Man's Journey)" (1 excerpted text)
NOTES: The dating on this piece is curious and difficult. Burt's text dates it to (18)54, but the next line says "Just a little before the war was o'er," which implies 1864. And the destination was "Totten Fort," which -- if Burt is correct in assuming this is Fort Totten -- was not established until 1867.
There is also the problem of the Indian tribes listed. The event took place in North Dakota (the supposed singer, Carlie Reynolds, was a historical person who died at the Little Bighorn), but the piece mentions Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Sioux (Dakota) -- and that territory was entirely Sioux. - RBW
File: Burt140

Deadly Wars, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh the deadly wars are past and blawn And gentle peace returning." The singer laments all the good people killed in the war. In the Burns text, he comes home and begs for lodging -- and meets the girl he loved long ago. She still loves him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1793 (published by Burns as "When wild War's deadly Blast was blawn")
KEYWORDS: soldier separation return reunion
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 24, #3 (1975), p, 23, "The Deadly Wars" (1 text, 1 tune, the Jeannie Robertson version)
James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #406,, pp. 543-545, "When wild War's deadly Blast was blawn" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1793)
Roud #7284
NOTES: The Robert Burns version of this is eight eight-line stanzas long, and is a fairly familiar story. The only traditional version appears to have been Jeannie Robertson's, which is only a quarter this long and has a somewhat simplified tune. Even Burns gets folk processed sometimes. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: SOv23n3

Deaf Woman's Courtship, The

DESCRIPTION: An old man comes to an old woman and asks her is she will (mend his jacket). She says she cannot hear him. He asks about other mundane tasks. She still can't hear him. He asks her to marry. She says, "I hear you now quite clearly"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd MS.)
KEYWORDS: age courting humorous questions
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England,Scotland) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Belden, p. 265, "Hard of Hearing" (1 text)
Randolph 353, "Old Woman, Old Woman" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Eddy 136, "Old Woman, Old Woman" (1 text)
BrownII 187, "Hard of Hearing" (1 text)
SharpAp 178, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 54, "Old Woman (The Deaf Woman's Courtship)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 243-244, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Opie-Oxford2 535, "Old woman, old woman, shall we go a-shearing?" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #94, p. 89, "(Old woman, old woman, shall we go a-shearing?)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 168, "(Old wife, old wife)" (1 short text)
Chase, pp. 136-137, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DEAFWOMN*
Roud #467
File: R353

Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)

DESCRIPTION: "I once did have a dear companion (or: "love with fond affection"); Indeed I thought his love my own Until a dark eyed girl betrayed me And now he cares no more for me." The girl, looking at her baby, recalls her unfaithful love and regrets her shame
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: love infidelity pregnancy lyric floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Greig #169, pp. 1-2, "Go and Leave Me" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1145, "Go and Leave Me If You Wish It" (6 texts, 2 tunes)
Belden, pp. 209-210, "Fond Affection" (1 text)
Randolph 755, "The Broken Heart" (7 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more, 2 tunes, though some, especially the fragments, may not go here; the "A" text contains material from "I Loved You Better Than You Knew" and several others, notably "H," are or are mixed with "The Broken Engagement (II -- We Have Met and We Have Parted)"' "F" is "Thou Hast Learned to Love Another")
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 493-495, "The Broken Heart" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 755A)
SharpAp 111, "The Dear Companion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 43, "The Dear Companion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 10, "Dear Companion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 181-182, "Go And Leave Me If You Wish To" (1 text)
BrownII 153, "Fond Affection" (13 text, including several much longer than the usual versions; the "M" text in particular seems conflate; the first four verses may be a separate song beginning "Darling, do you know who loves you?")
Chase, p. 166, "(Dear Companion") (1 text, tune referenced)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 32-33, "Now Go and Leave Me If You Wish" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 59, "Blue-Eyed Lover" (1 text, 1 tune, an incredibly composite version I file here for lack of any better idea; it has lyrics from many songs of this type and even "The Widow in the Cottage by the Sea")
Peacock, p. 453, "Go and Leave Me If You Wish, Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 323, "Fond Affection" (1 short text, with this title and some lyrics which belong here but with other elements reminiscent of "Carrickfergus")
Silber-FSWB, p. 164, "Dear Companion" (1 text)
DT, DEARCOMP* GOLEAVME ONCEILUV
Roud #411 and 459
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "I Hope I Live a Few More Days" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1 -- an incredibly complex composite of lost love/abandonment songs, jumbled together and confused, but seemingly with more lines from this song than any other)
Carter Family, "Fond Affection" (Victor 23585, 1931; Montgomery Ward M-4744, 1935; Zonophone [Australia] 4364, n.d.)
Crowder Brothers, "Leave Me Darling, I Don't Mind" (Melotone 7-04-70, 1937)
Clarence Green, "Fond Affection" (Columbia 15311-D, 1928)
Sid Harkreader, "Many Days With You I Wandered" (Vocalion 15100, 1925)
Kelly Harrell, "Bye and Bye You Will Forget Me" (Victor 20535, 1926; on KHarrell02 -- clearly this song, though it borrows lyrics from "Bye and Bye You Will Forget Me")
Mainer's Mountaineers "Let Her Go God Bless Her" (Bluebird [Canada] B-6104, 1935)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Go and Leave Me If You Wish" (Brunswick 293, 1929; rec. 1928)
David Miller, "Many Times With You I've Wandered" (Champion 15429, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wayfaring Stranger" (approximate tune) and references there
cf. "The Bonny Boy (I)" (lyrics)
cf. "Columbus Stockade Blues" (lyrics)
cf. "Sweet Heaven (II)" (lyrics)
cf. "Saint James Infirmary" (the "let her go" lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Once I Loved with Fond Affection
If It's In Your Heart
I Once Did Love Your Fond Affection
Fond of Affection
Raven Dark Hair
Fond Devotion
Future Days
Separation
NOTES: This piece would appear to break up into two subfamilies, "Dear Companion" ("I once did have a dear companion") and "A Fond Affection." I tried to separate the two -- but when I saw the incredible mixture in Randolph, I gave up. - RBW
It's also getting harder to distinguish "Columbus Stockade Blues" from this song. We use the "Columbus Stockade" line as a marker, but several versions of "Dear Companion" overlap heavily with that song in lyrics. - PJS
So true. Peacock's version, e.g., is "Columbus Stockade Blues" minus the first verse, though the tune is different.
Jean Ritchie, incidentally, rewrote this as "My Dear Companion," beginning "Oh have you seen my dear companion, For he was all the world to me." Her version can be found on pates 62-63 of Sing Out!, Volume 41, #3 (1996/1997). Apparently it has become mildly popular in country circles. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R755

Dear Cork City by the Lee

DESCRIPTION: The singer is far from Cork but recalls its hills, chimes, streets, restaurants in Coal-Quay, hurling and "Glen Rovers' Christy Ring"; "now for the finish we'll drink a pint... We can never forget ... the night we won the Free State Championship"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: pride sports drink nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OCanainn, pp. 112-113, "Dear Cork City by the Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The first and second verses -- before the hurling verses -- remind me of "Cork's Own Town" (I) for the description of local streets and Fishamble or Coal-Quay restaurants.
OCanainn: "I suppose it is just possible that there are people looking at this song who might not be aware that Glen Rovers Hurling Club is situated in Blackpool, on the Northside of the city. Equally, it is possible that they might not know that Christy Ring, one of the most famous hurlers of all time, is the 'rock of Cloyne' referred to in the song, for Cloyne, in East Cork, is his native place though he now lives in the city. The 'eight counties in a row' refers to their many victories in the Cork County Championship." - BS
File: OCan112

Dear Evalina

DESCRIPTION: The singer met Evalina "way down in the meadow." They courted for a time, but after three years he still has no money; though he cannot marry her, "Dear Evalina, Sweet Evalina, My love for thee shall never, never die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Heart Songs)
KEYWORDS: love courting poverty separation
FOUND IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 823, "Sweet Evelina" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 101, pp. 211-212, "Evalina" (1 text)
Cambiaire, p. 87, "Sweet Evelena" (1 text)
Gilbert, p. 113, "(Sweet Evelina -- parody)" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 257 "Sweet Evelina" (1 text)
Roud #7437
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Sweet Evalina" (Supertone 9643, 1930)
The Blue Sky Boys, "Sweet Evalina" (Bluebird 7348, c. 1938)
W. Lee O'Daniel & the Light Crust Doughboys, "Dear Evalina, Sweet Evalina" (Vocalion 04440, 1938)
Ola Belle & Bud Reed, "Sweet Evalina" (on Reeds01)
Phil Reeve & Ernest Moody, "Sweet Evalina" (Victor 21188, 1928)
File: R823

Dear Evelina, Sweet Evalina

See Dear Evalina (File: R823)

Dear Irish Boy, The

See My Dear Irish Boy (File: HHH142)

Dear Irish Maid, The

See My Dear Irish Boy (File: HHH142)

Dear Land

DESCRIPTION: "When comes the day all hearts to weigh if they be staunch or vile, Shall we forget the sacred debt we owe our mother isle?" The singer recalls the wrongs of Ireland, and his family's long devotion
AUTHOR: Sliach Cuilinn (John O'Hara, 1822-1890)
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Sparling)
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 54-55, "Dear Land" (1 text)
Roud #9558
NOTES: John O'Hara was a writer associated with The Nation, though he is almost forgotten today; this is pretty definitely his best and most famous work. Supposedly Charles Gavin Duffy whispered the first few lines on his deaathbed. - RBW
File: Dean054

Dear Little Shamrock, The

DESCRIPTION: "There's a dear little plant that grows on our isle" brought by St Patrick "and he called it the dear little shamrock of Ireland." The shamrock still grows. "When its three little leaves are extended" they denote that "we together should toil."
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Cherry (1762-1812)
EARLIEST DATE: 1806 (sung by Mrs Mountain, Dublin Opera House, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
O'Conor, pp. 112-113, "The Dear Little Shamrock" (1 text)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 46-48, "The Green Little Shamrock of Ireland" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 149-150, 497, "The Green Little Shamrock of Ireland"
Roud #13278
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(658), "The Dear Little Shamrock," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(823), Harding B 11(824), 2806 c.15(239), "The Dear Little Shamrock"
LOCSheet, sm1870 02376, "The Dear Little Shamrock," Whittemore Swan & Stephens (Detroit), 1870; also sm1875 00381, sm1878 07872, "[The] Dear Little Shamrock" (tune)
NOTES: The shamrock has been associated with St. Patrick for centuries; the earliest legend has it that he used it to explain the concept of the Trinity. (The argument, however, is not found in his extant writings.) In the earliest accounts, though, there is no claim that Patrick actually imported the shamrock -- and, of course, good evidence that he didn't.
Either there are two tunes for this (not unlikely), or there have been multiple claims; Croker-PopularSongs lists the tune as by "Shield," but [no author listed] A Library of Irish Music (published by Amsco) credits the tune to "W. Jackson." - RBW
File: OCon112

Dear Mallow, Adieu

DESCRIPTION: The singer bids adieu to Mallow, "where all may live just as they please," and recalls its pleasures. Now he is leaving "for the city's dull uniform scene." He will miss women, companions, and freedom. He hopes to return next spring.
AUTHOR: Samuel Whyte (1724-1811) (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1772 (Samuel Whyte,_The Shamrock, or Hibernian Cresses_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: farewell nonballad home
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 243-249, "Dear Mallow, Adieu" (1 text)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "In 1750, Dr Smith thus describes Mallow, which was then a very fashionable watering-place:'... Here is generally a resort of good company during the summer months, both for pleasure and the benefit of drinking the waters....'"
File: CrPS243

Dear Meal's Cheap Again, The

DESCRIPTION: "The dear meal's cheap again, The dear meal's cheap again, The dear meal on Donside's at ten pence the peck again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: commerce food nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1728, "The Dear Meal's Cheap Again" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #13129
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 text.
See "A Pig and a Posset o' Whey" for a similar verse. Does this text, or name for the reel, date back to the period after the Napoleonic wars? See "The Ports are Open." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81728

Dear Mother

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going away to leave you... Don't weep for me, dear mother, For I'll be back someday." The singer's girl has abandoned him; he will cross the sea to find another, then return to mother. But she dies and tells him to trust in God before he can return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (JAFL 45, from Granville Gadsey)
KEYWORDS: separation mother death courting emigration
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 210-211, "Dear Mother" (1 text)
Roud #4214
NOTES: I have a feeling this is a composite of an emigration song with a religious song, with perhaps one of those "Don't leave your mother when her hair turns gray" songs thrown in as well. But they've all been thoroughly mixed up. - RBW
File: MHAp210

Dear-A-Wee Lass, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer first sees the girl on a May morning, and is drawn by her beauty and "killing glances." Men of all occupations court her; he thinks them doomed to be disdained, but he too loves her always. He wishes he could marry and bless her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H74, p. 236, "The Dear-A-Wee Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: HHH074

Dearest Mae

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes his life as a slave and his love for Mae. When master gives him a holiday, he visits Mae and they court happily; he then returns home. Master dies; the singer is sold down the river; Mae dies of grief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1850 (The Ethiopian Glee Book)
KEYWORDS: slave death separation love courting
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 405, "Dearest Mae" (1 text plus an excerpt -- a verse which has floated in from "Massa Had a Yellow Gal" -- and mention of 2 more)
Roud #9089
NOTES: The notes in Brown list versions attributed to "A. F. Winnemore" and "Francis Lynch/L. V. H. Crosby." Draw your own conclusions.
It's worth noting that this is *not* a "happy slave" piece; the singer works hard, but is cruelly betrayed on his master's death, and Mae dies. In that sense, it rather resembled "Darling Nellie Gray" -- though seemingly without provoking the reactions the latter produced. - RBW
File: Br3405

Death and the Lady

DESCRIPTION: Young woman meets Death; offers him rich gifts if he will grant her more time in this world. (In some versions, she wishes to mend her ways after a life of wickedness.) He refuses. She dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1736 ("A Guide to Heaven")
KEYWORDS: death bargaining dialog
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Bord)) US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Sharp-100E 22, "Death and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 30, "Death and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 170-171, "Death and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN843, "Fair lady leave your costly Robes aside"; ZN1415, "In Cambridge lives a maiden fair/" (composite text also containing part of "Weaver to My Trade")
DT, DEATHLDY*
Roud #1031
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(52), "Death and the Lady," unknown, c. 1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Conversation with Death (Oh Death)" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Oh Death
My Name is Death
File: ShH22

Death is a Melancholy Call [Laws H5]

DESCRIPTION: The singer observes a young man dying as a result of a dissolute life. Both the youth and his friends are frightened by the prospect of hell. The singer concludes with a stock exhortation to repent
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: death farewell Hell youth
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws H5, "Death is a Melancholy Call"
Belden, pp. 464-465, "Death is a Melancholy Call (3 texts)
Randolph 595, "The Dying Youth" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 95, "The Lost Youth" (1 text)
DT 718, DEATHMEL
Roud #655
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Boy" (theme)
cf. "Wicked Polly" [Laws H6] (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Awful, Awful, Awful
NOTES: Many versions of this piece have the tragicomic refrain "And it's awful, awful, awful...."
Not to be confused with "Death 'Tis a Melancholy Day."
Barry wrote a study of this piece and "Wicked Polly," treating them as variants (male and female, presumably) of the same piece. The moral is of course the same, and they use the same metrical form -- but I can't see any actual dependence in the lyrics. - RBW
File: LH05

Death is Awful

See Conversation with Death (Oh Death) (File: R663)

Death Letter Blues

DESCRIPTION: Singer gets a letter, telling him to come home, because the girl he loves is dead. He comes home, to find her on the "cooling board." He buries her, weeping, telling her he'll meet her on Judgement Day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (verses floated to recording by Papa Harvey Hull). As a discrete song, 1966 (recording, Eugene "Son" House)
KEYWORDS: grief love home return burial death mourning lover
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Eugene "Son" House, "Death Letter" (on SonHouse1)
Papa Harvey Hull, "France Blues" (Black Patti 8001/Gennett 6106/Champion 15264, 1927; on BefBlues1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "France Blues" (verses)
NOTES: The Hull recording ["France Blues"] incorporates the core of "Death Letter" but adds floating non-narrative verses from "Mobile Line" and elsewhere. - PJS
File: RcDLetB

Death of a Maiden Fair

See A Fair Lady of the Plains (Death of a Maiden Fair) [Laws B8] (File: LB08)

Death of a Romish Lady, The

See The Romish Lady [Laws Q32] (File: LQ32)

Death of Admiral Benbow, The

See Admiral Benbow (File: PBB076)

Death of Alec Robertson (I)

DESCRIPTION: "A good man has gone, he's drawn his last breath, Struck down in the midst of his pride. Poor Alec Robertson met his sad death On his favorite horse, Silvermine."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959
KEYWORDS: death horse racing
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 150, "Death of Alec Robertson" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Donald Campbell" (theme)
cf. "Tom Corrigan (theme)
cf. ""The Jockey's Lament" (theme)
cf. "Alec Robertson (I)" (theme)
cf. "Alec Robertson (II)" (theme)
File: MA150

Death of Alec Robertson (II), The

See Alec Robertson (I) (File: MA065)

Death of Andrew Sheehan, The

See Bold Larkin (Bull Yorkens) (File: Pea907)

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Craw Killed the Pussie O, The

Craw Killed the Pussy-O, The

Craw's Killed the Pussie O, The

Craw's Ta'en the Pussie, The

Crawdad

Crawdad Song

Crayfish, The

Crazy Grey Mare, The

Crazy Jane

Crazy Song to the Air of "Dixie"

Creation

Creation Song, The

Cree-Mo-Cri-Mo-Dorro-Wah

Creeping and Crawling

Creeping Jane [Laws Q23]

Creggan White Hare, The

Creole Girl, The

Crew from Boston Bay, The

Crew of the Clara Youell, The

Cribisse! Cribisse! (Crawfish! Crawfish!)

Cricket and Crab-louse, The (Down Derry Down)

Cricketty Wee

Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers, The

Crimean War, The [Laws J9]

Criole Candjo (Creole Candio)

Cripple Creek (I)

Cripple Creek (II) (Buck Creek Girls)

Cripple Kirsty

Crockery Ware

Crocodile, The

Cromie's Orange Buck, The

Cronie o' Mine, A

Cronies o' Mine, The

Crook and Plaid, The

Crooked Rib, The

Crooked Trail to Holbrook, The

Crooked-Foot John

Crookit Bawbee

Crooskeen Lawn

Croppies Lie Down (I)

Croppies Lie Down (II)

Croppy Boy (I), The [Laws J14]

Croppy Boy (II), The

Cross Mountain Explosion, The (Coal Creek Disaster) [Laws G9]

Cross Your Fingers

Crossed Old Jordan's Stream

Crossing the Plains

Crosspatrick, The

Crow and Pie [Child 111]

Crow and the Weasel, The

Crow Song (I), The

Crow Song (II), The

Crow Wing Drive

Crow-Fish Man (I), The

Crow-Fish Man (II), The

Crow, Black Chicken

Crowd of Bold Sharemen, A

Crown For Us All, A

Crows in the Garden

Cruel Brother, The [Child 11]

Cruel Gardener, The

Cruel Lowland Maid, The

Cruel Miller, The

Cruel Mother, The (Or Three Children)

Cruel Mother, The [Child 20]

Cruel Ship's Carpenter, The (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly) [Laws P36A/B]

Cruel Sister, The

Cruel War is Raging

Cruel Was the Press Gang

Cruel Waves of Huron

Cruel Were My Parents

Cruel Wife, A

Cruise of the Bigler, The

Cruise of the Calabar, The

Cruise of the Calibar, The

Cruise of the Dove, The

Cruising Round Yarmouth

Cruiskeen Lawn

Crummy Cow, The

Cryderville Jail, The