Tag Archives: John W. Green

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 19th 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!

13 May

The Gallagher Boys

Come all brother sailors I hope you’ll draw nigh,
For to hear of the sad news, it will cause you to cry,
Of noble Johnny Gallagher, who sailed to and fro,
He was lost on Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

It was in October in seventy three,
We left Beaver harbor and had a calm sea,
Bound away to Traverse City, our destination to go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

We left Traverse City at nine the next day
And down to Elk Rapids we then bore our way,
We took in our store and to sea we did go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

At nine that same night a light we did spy,
That is Beaver Island, we are drawing nigh,
We carried all sails, the Lookout, she did go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

Oh Johnny got up and he spoke to his crew,
He says, “My brave boys, now be steady and true,
Stand by your fore halyards, let your main halyards to,
There’s a squall on Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.”

The Lookout’s she’s a-runnin’ before a hard gale.
Upset went her rudder and overboard went her sail,
The billows were foaming like mountains of snow.
We shall ne’er cross Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

Says Owen, “Brother Johnny, it grieves my heart sore,
To think we will never return to the shore,
God help our poor parents, their tears down will flow,
For we’ll sleep in Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.”

I am looking forward to a talk on the Irish music of Beaver Island, Michigan that I will be giving in June at the Center for Irish Music’s Minnesota Irish Music Weekend! In anticipation of that, I thought I would share song composed on Beaver Island this month: “The Gallagher Boys.”

Island singer Dominick Gallagher was six years old in 1873 when word came to the island that a boat went down in a gale while making the 70 mile return trip from a supply run to Traverse City. Dominick’s own father, Dominick Sr., had left on the same boat and was assumed to be among the lost.

“…when the news came and the report was that all hands was lost, I remember runnin’ and hangin’ around mother. I couldn’t realize what they were all cryin’ about. I had six sisters and they were all home and they were all cryin’, too. That night they had a wake and all, just as though he was there, and all the next day the neighbors came around.”
-Dominick Gallagher to Alan Lomax, 1938

(transcribed from this recording)

Miraculously, Dominick Sr. returned the next day. His friend Captain Roddy had also been in Traverse City and had convinced him not to make the crossing. Still, the Beaver Islanders who did venture out (including a Johnny Gallagher) were lost and the above song was composed shortly after by local song-maker Dan Malloy.

Above is my transcription of Dominick’s own melody and four verse text as sung for Lomax with the addition of three verses (1, 4 and 5 above) that were sung that same year by fellow Islander Johnny Green who had a much longer version of the song.