John W. Green - evergreentrad

10 Jan

Why Don’t My Father’s Ship Come In?

It was on a Christmas evening as I lay down to sleep,
I heard a boy of six years old on his mother’s knee did weep,
Saying “once I had a father dear who did me kind embrace
And if he was here, he would dry those tears flowing down my mother’s face”

Oh where is that tall and gallant ship that first bore him away,
With topsails soft and painted decks born by the breeze away,
While other ships are coming in splitting the icy foam,
Oh why don’t my father’s ship come in, and why don’t he come home?

Oh, dear son, your father has tarried for to cross the stormy sea,
The ocean and the hurricane sweeps he’ll never come back to me,
Dear son your father’s dead and gone to the home of the brave,
The stormy ocean and winter winds sweep o’er your father’s grave

Oh well I do remember when he took me on his knee,
And gave me all the fruits he bore from off that India tree,
He said six months he would be gone and here leave us alone,
But by those stormy winter winds, twelve months are past and gone.

Oh hush my darling little son your innocent life is done,
Now you and I are all that’s left for to lament and mourn,
You are the darling of my heart I will press you to my side,
And they rose their eyes to heaven and the son and mother died.

We return to Beaver Island, Michigan this month for a song from the repertoire of singer Johnny Green recorded by Alan Lomax during his 1938 visit to the island.

This dark and sorrowful lament for a father lost at sea appears in several collections across the north woods from the Canadian Maritimes to Ontario. Lomax’s recording of John Green is accessible via the Library of Congress website under the title (probably resulting from a mishearing of the first line) “Christmas Eve.”

Anita Best and Genevieve Lehr printed a version from Annie Green of Newfoundland in their book Come & I Will Sing You. Annie Green closed the song this way:

“My boy you’re the pride of all my heart,” as she pressed him to her breast,
And closed her eyes to the yonder skies where the weary ones find rest.

26 Apr

Ram of Darby

As I walked out to Darby, I met the other day,
One of the finest rams, sir, that ever your eyes did see.

With my towry owry owry, with my towry owry-ee
He was one of the finest rams, sir, that ever your eyes did see.

This ram was fat behind and this ram was fat before,
And this ram was ten years old and I’m sure he was no more. With my…

He had four feet to gang on and four more feet to stand,
And every foot he had, sir, would cover an acre of land. With my..

The hair upon his back, sir, it grew so mighty high,
That the swallows built there nest but the young ones dare not fly. With my…

The horns upon this ram, they reached up to the moon,
A man went up in February, and never came down til June. With my…

Perhaps you think I’m joking, perhaps you think I lie,
But if you’d been to Darby you’d have seen him well as I. With my…

This song of tall tales (tails?) dates to the early 19^th century in England and quite possibly well before that. It became widely known in England where it is still sung (and acted out) as part of mummers plays in Sheffield at Christmas time. It crossed the Atlantic and versions were collected widely in the United States where some singers swore it was a favorite of George Washington himself. In Ireland, the masterful Cork singer Elizabeth Cronin sang a nice lilty version that shares its tune with the Irish song “Tá Mo Madra.” Many American variants share a plainer melody that in Minnesota was used by Hubbard County singer Reuben Phillips for his version of another song full of outrageous lies about a deer hunt called “The Sally Buck.”

The above melody comes from the Beaver Island, Michigan singer Johnny W. Green who sang it for Alan Lomax’s recording machine in 1939. Green’s melody, like Cronin’s, is more lilty and complex than the more standard tunes. The abundance of Irish immigrants on the island during Green’s lifetime supplied him with a rich store of Irish melodies and his versions of common folk songs often give a more Irish flavor to a well-travelled song. You can hear the Green recording via the Library of Congress website thanks to the work of the American Folklife Center there. For the text above, I used mainly Green’s words but borrowed some poetics from versions collected in “mainland” Michigan by Gardner and Chickering and another version from Vermont printed by Flanders.

05 Jun

The First Day of April

The first day of April I’ll never forget,
When three English blades together had met,
They mounted on horseback and swore bitterly,
That they’d play a trick on the first man they’d see and sing…
Fol-de-dal-lol-ladly, fol-de-dal-lol-ladly,
Laddelyfol-lol-de-dal-lay, laddely-fol-de-dal-lee.

At Campbell the Rover they happened to spy,
He came from Tyrone, a place called The Moy,
And they saluted Campbell and he done the same,
And in close conversation together they came and sing…

They rode right along and they made a full stop,
They called upon Paddy for to take a drop,
And Paddy consented and said with a smile,
“I long for to taste the good ale from Carlisle” sing…

They ate and they drank and they sported as well,
Until forty eight shillings to pay up a bill,
Likewise for their horses some oats and good hay,
And they thought they’d leave Paddy the rattling to pay and sing…

Out of the house one by one then they stole,
They thought they’d leave Paddy to pay for the whole,
The landlord came in and this he did say,
“I’m afraid Irish Pat they’ve a trick on you played” and sing…

“Never mind them,” says Pat, “although they’re gone away,
I’ve got plenty of money the rattling to pay.
If you’ll sit down beside me before that I go,
I will tell you a secret perhaps you don’t know” and sing…

“I’ll tell you a secret contrary to law,
That two kinds of wine from one puncheon I’ll draw,”
And the landlord was eager to find out that plan,
And away to the cellar with Paddy he ran.

He bored a hole in a very short space,
And he bade the landlord place his thumb on that place,
The next one he bored, “Place the other one there,
And I for a tumbler will go up the stair” and sing…

Pat mounted his horse and was soon out of sight,
The horser came in to see if all was right,
They hunted the house from the top to the ground,
And half dead in the cellar the master he found sing…

I wish I would have come across this light-hearted song about pranking and counter-pranking a couple months ago. It’s the perfect April Fools Day song – even set on “the first day of April!” A version of this was sung in Ireland by Joe Heaney who called it “Campbell the Rover.” Variants were also collected in the Canadian Maritimes but the version above is from the vast repertoire of Johnny Green of Beaver Island, Michigan. As with most of Green’s songs, you can listen to a 1938 recording Alan Lomax made of Green singing it on the Library of Congress website. I did my best to transcribe Green’s melody and quirky chorus note-for-note but I made a couple small tweaks to his text to improve a rhyme and to help the story make sense.

I’ll be talking about Green’s life and playing recordings of his songs at a lecture on the music of Beaver Island that I’m giving this month at the Center for Irish Music’s Minnesota Irish Music Weekend. Come if you can!