AFS L 2: ANGLO-AMERICAN SHANTIES, LYRIC SONGS, DANCE TUNES AND SPIRITUALS
Recorded in various parts of U.S. by Alan Lomax, Herbert Halpert and others, 1937-41. Edited by Alan Lomax.
1."Sally Brown" and "Haul Away My Rosy", sung by J. M. (Sailor Dad) Hunt
2."Pay Day at Coal Creek", sung with five-string banjo by Pete Steele
3."The Little Dove" and "Ten Thousand Miles", sung by Aunt Molly Jackson
4."Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?", sung with guitar by Russ Pike
5."Jennie Jenkins", sung with guitar and mandolin by Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Ball
6."Fod", sung with guitar and mandolin by Henry King and family
7."Roll on the Ground", sung with five-string banjo by Thaddeus C. Willingham
8."The Last of Callahan", "The Ways of the World", and "Glory in the Meetinghouse", played on the fiddle by Luther Strong
9."Grub Springs", "The Eighth of January", "Texas Bell", and
10."Cindy", played on the fiddle and sung by W. E. Claunch with guitar
11."Old Joe Clark" and "Chilly Winds", played on five-string banjo by Wade Ward
12."Cripple Creek", played on five-string banjo by Herbert Smoke
13."Coal Creek March", played on five-string banjo by Pete Steele
14."John Henry", played by Wallace Swann and his Cherokee String Band
15."The Train", played on harmonica by Chub Parham with clogging
Liner Notes:
Anglo-American Shanties, Lyric Songs, Dance Tunes and Spirituals
AI-SALLY BROWN (Traditional Sea Shanty).
A2-HAUL AWAY, MY ROSY. (Traditional Sea Shanty).
Sung hy J. M. (Sailor Dad) Hnnt of Marion, Virginia. Recorded in "rashington, D.C., by Alan Lomax, 1941. Since the earliest days of sailing vessels, the old manuscripts say, sailors have cried out and halloed at their work as they hoisted sail and
anchor. Sailor work songs arc known in German, French, and Scandinavian; but it is to Great Britain, mistress of the seas, that there falls the honor for the greatest development of this type. Between 1820 and 1870, however, swift American ships began to dominate the seas; the American clippers were the fastest and most beautiful sailing vessels that man had ever made; and the British shanty was taken over and further brightened by American seamen. ....
Both of these songs me performed at a tempo actually much faster than is possible for men at work aboard ship. The first is a capstan or windlass shanty. The second is what is known as a "long haul shanty"-that is, a shanty song for hoisting the topsails. The pulls occur in "Haul Away, My Rosy" on the first '''way'' in each chorus line and on the word "Johnny-a." For another version of "Sally Brown" and for general background on shanties sec page 82 of Joanna C. Colcord, Songs of American Sailormen (W. W. Norton and Company. 1938); for a variant of A2 sec page 41.
AI-SALLY BROWN
1. I shipped on boare' of a Liverpool liner,
'Way. hey. roll and go.
And we'll go all night and we'll go till marnin',
I spend my money alor!.g with Sally Brown.
2. Sally Brown is a nice young lady.
3. She's tall and dark but not too shady.
4. Her mother don"t like a tarry sailoi".
5. She wants here to marry a one-legged captain.
A2-HAUL AWAY, MY ROSY
I. Talk about your harbor girls around the cornel', Sally. 'Way, haul away, haul away, my Rosy, 'Way, haui away, haul :.1way, roy Johnny-O. 2. But they couldn't come to tca with the girls hom Booblc Alley.
3. I once loved a French Lirl, but she was fat and crazy. 4. With her "Parlez-vous, oui, oui, fran<;ais" she ncarly drove me crazy. 5. King Louis was the king of France before
the Revolution. 6. But the people cut his head off, then he lost his constitution. 7. We sailed away from Liverpool, bound for the Gulf of Mexico. 8. Wc sailed into Galveston and loaded up with cotton-o. 9. We loaded cargo there, my boys, then we took it light and easy.
A3-PAY DAY AT COAL CREEK (Lament
on a Mine Disaster).
Snng with five-string hanjo hy Pete
Steele at Hamilton, Ohio, 1938. Recorded
hy Alan and Elizaheth Lomax.
Coal Creek, Tennessee, has been the scene of several mine disasters. This song, according to Pete Steele, celebrates the final closing of the mincs-
HNo more pay days at Coal Creek."
Pete Steele's performance marks a high point in the development of indigenous white folksong, a perfect blending of voice and instrument. While the banjo was originally a Negro instrument, the southern whites have so well adapted it to their musical style that it is now more typical of southern white than of southern Negro music.
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For other miners' songs see G. G. Korson, Minstrels of the Mine Patch (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1938). For this version see page 274 of John A. and Alan Lomax, Our Singing Country (New York: Macmil1an Company,
1941). I. Pay day, pay day, 0 pay day,
Pay day at Coal Creek tomorrow,
Pay day at Coal Creek tomorrow.
2. Pay day, pay day, 0 pny day, Pay day don't come at Coal Creek no more. Pay day don't cor71C no marc. 3. Bye-bye, bye-bye, 0 bye-bye, Bye-bye, my woman, J'm gone, Bye-bye, my woman, I'm gone. 4. You'l1 miss mc, you']] miss me, you'll miss me, You'll miss me whcn I'm gone, You'll miss me when I'm gone. 5. I'm a poor boy, I'm a poor boy, I'm a poor boy, 1'm a poor boy and a long ways from home, I'm a poor boy and a long ways from home, 6. He's a rider, 0 he's a ridcr, 0 hc's a rider, o he's a ricler, but she'll leave that rail
some time,
o he's a rider, but she'll leave that rail
some time.
A4-THE LIlTLE DOVE (White Spiritual).
Suug by Aunt Molly Jackson o[ Clay
Count)', Kentucky. Recorded in New
York City, 1939, by Alan Lomax.
One of the strictest conventions of Protestantism in rural America was its prohibition of all nonreligious music. Secular music was denounced as being worldly and bclonging to flesh and the devil; and, idcally speaking. no respectable church member ever allowed himself to sing a ballad or a love song. If he were to be convicted of a seriolls disregard of this taboo he was likcly to lose his status as a respect~ble member of the community. Naturally the strictness of this taboo varied a good deal with the community and the time. .....
Due to this prohibition agninst ballads and love songs, the church folk created narrative and lyric songs for themselves, using many of the old secular tunes. but developing texts of proper religious contcnt. Aunt Molly's "Little Dove" belongs to this class of songs. It is a love song which could bc and was SllIH! before the fircplaces of respectable reli!..dous ~ramilies.
For another version and a note on this song see pages 63 1'1'., G. P. Jackson, Spiritual FolkSongs of Early America (New York: J. J, Augustin, 1937).
1. As Tsat in a 100wsome grove, Sat o'er my head a little dove. For its lost mate bcgan to coo: It made me think of my matc too. 2. "O-little dove, you're not alonc, Twas oncc likc you constrained to mourn, Once like you 1 had a matc, But now like you I'm deso1<ltc. 3. "Consumption seized my lover dear Andlingcrcd on for onc long year, Till death came at the break of day And lovely Mary him 1 did slay. 4. "0 dcnth, grim death. did not stop there, I had a bate to me most dear: Death like a virtuc2 came again And took from mc my littl~ Junc. 5. "She said to me: 'My dearest friend, Go on, prove faithful 10 the end And soar on high to tr.at blessed shore,
There we will meet to part no more.' 6. "0 hasten on the happy day. Whcn 1 must leave this clod of clay And soar on high to that blessed plain; ifhere I'll meet Mary and my Jane." 1 This word should be "he."
" Vulture.
AS-TEN THOUSAND MILES (Lo"e Song).
Sung by Aunt Molly Jackson o[ Clay
County, Kentucky. Recorded in New
York City, 1939, by Alan Lumax.
Along with British ballad,; and the fiddle tunes, the United Statcs also inherited a group of exquisite lyric songs which have becn particularly popular in the southern United States. These love songs, perhaps more than thc ballads, have been close to the hearts of the people and they have been further changed by their rcsidence in this country. Without them, the Negro blues would never have grown as they have, nor would we have our present rich stock of contemporary "hill-billy" lyric songs. Aunt Molly's performance of this song, which tells of the parting of two lovers as the young man goes to the wars, is an Amcrican re-creation of various fragments of the British lyric tradition. Her performance is in th~ pure style of Kentucky mountain folk singing.
For reference. see page 113, Cccil J. Sharp,
English Folk Songs from the Southern Appala8
chian.\", vol. II (Oxford University Press, 1932);also page 380, H. M. Belden, Ballads alu! Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk Lore Society (University of Missouri, 1940). I. "0 fare you well, my darling, o fare you well, my dear, o fare you well, my darling;
I'm going to volunteer.
2. "I'm going to the army
To stay for a while,
So far from you, Illy darling;
It's about ten thousand miles.
3. "I will see the cannon
As they roll the wheels around;
I will fight for my country,
To the army 1 am Dound.
4. "0 do not wring your lily white hands, o mournfully do not cry;
I'm going to the army,
Perhaps in the army die.
5. "I ask you not to grieve for me
And give your poor heart pain,
For if I live, my darling,
I'll return to you again.
6. "I'll return to yOll again. my love, If I keep my life; I'll come back to you, my love, And yOll shall be my wife. 7. "WclI~uh who will shoe your feet, my love? Now who will glove your hand? And who will kiss your rosy lips While I'm in a distant land? " 8. "My father will shoe my feeL my love; My mother will glove my hancl. And as for kissing my rosy lips, There'll be no other man." 9. "0 fare you well, my darling, a fare you well, my dear. Be true to me, my own sweetheart, I'm bound to !cave you here."
A6-S0LDIER, WON'T YOU MARRY ME?
(Humorous Soog).
Sung with guitar hy Russ Pike at Visalia,
California, 1941. Recorded hy
Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin.
This satiric dialogue between a sophisticated soldier and a somewhat naive lady has been universally loved in this country, as in England, the country of its origin. Girl Scouts, isolated mountaineers. New England lumberjacks, college glee clubs-all sing it with equal enthusi3sm;
the "Okics," the wandering migratory
workers of the Southwest. have carried it to the beet fields and oranf!e Qroves of California. For another versi~n ;nd background material on this song, see page 40. Sharp, English Folk Songs. 1. "0 soldier, 0 soldier. won't yOll marry me now, To the beat of the fife and the drum: " "0 how ean I marry such a pretty little miss When 1 have no shoes to put on? " 2. Now she ran and she r<ln to the shoe store
As fast as she could run.
She brought back the very, very best,
And the soldier put it on.
3. "Soldier, 0 soldier. won't you marry me now, To the beat of the fife and the drum"" How can I marry such a pretty little miss When I have no suit to put on:" 4. 0 she ran and she ran to the clothing store
As fast <lS she could run.
She brought back the very, very best,
And th(' soldier put it on.
5. "0 soldier, 0 soldier. won't you marry me now, To the beat of the fife and the drum?" "How can Tmarry such a pretty little miss \Vhen Thave no hat to put on? " 6. Well, she ran and she ran to the hat store
As fust as she could rUll.
She brought back the vn)', very best,
And the soldier put it on,
7. "Soldier, a soldier, won't you marry me now. To the beat of the fife and the drum? " "0 how can I marry such a pretty little miss When I have a wife at home? "
A7-JENNIE JENKINS (Dialogue Song).
Sung with guitar and mandolin by Mr. and
Mrs. E. C. Ball at Rugby, Virginia,
1941. Recorded b" Alan and Elizabeth
Rugby, Virginia, is not a town or even a village, but a community of mountain people, scattered among the folds of the green hills of southwest Virginia, One sunny afternoon last fall, I drove up one of its green valleys along a narrow road, looking for the home of the E. C. Balls. I did not have to be told that J had found the right house, because there on a front gallery were the two of them, singing together-Mr. Ball with his big guitar in his lap.
This song, of English origin, has been found in many parts of the United States. It is a song
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of courtship. Often at rural entertainments of earlier days a pair of lovers would sing it together as a duet, to the great amusement and delight of their auditors. For another version of this song see page 371, Sharp, English Folk Songs. 1. Man: Will you wear white, my dear, o dear? o will you wear white, Jennie Jenkins? Woman: I won't wear white, For the color's too bright; I'll buy me a foldy-roldy, tildy-toldy, Seek a double use-a cause-a, roldy binding.
Both: Roll, Jenn;e Jenkins, roll!
2. Mall: Will you wear red, my dear, 0 dear? o will you wear red, Jennie Jenkins? Woman: I won't wear red,
For it's the color on my head;
Etc.
3. Man: Will you wear green, my dear, o dear? a will you wear green, Jennie Jenkins? Woman: Twon't wear green,
For it's a shame to be seen;
Etc.
4. Man: Will you wt:ar black, my dear, o dear? o will you wear black, Jennie Jenkins? Woman: I won't wear black,
For it's the color on my back;
Etc.
5. Man: Will you wear green, my dear, o dear? o will you wear green, Jennie Jenkins? Etc.
A8-FOD (Nonsense Song).
Sung with guitar and mandolin by Henry King at Visalia, California, 1941. Recorded by Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin.
A first love of any Anglo-American folk singer is the nonsense song, the song of contradiction,
fancy, and foolisI-ness. A typical line
from a contemporary sor.g runs,
"Her age it was black and her hair was
nineteen."
In "Fad" the fantasy ha~ an alnl0st surrealist
character. A blrtck snake bites our adventurer;
he sits down on a sturn,), seeming to himself
like a woodchuck. Then he becomes the woodchuck,
playing a banjo. The woodchuck becomes
embroiled with a skunk and their combined
musty odor puts out the lamp at a dance
that had never begun.
The King family came to California from Arkansas as migratory farm workers. They brought their instruments and their songs with them and, as they have travelled from farm to farm following the crops and entertaining their fellow "Okies," they have become a legend of fun and good cheer for their people.
For songs in similar minstrel style see Dorothy Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs (Harvard University Press, 1925), and Newman 1. White, American Negro Folk-Songs (Harvard University Press, 1928).
J. As Twent down to the mowin' field, Hu-rye, tu-rye, fod-a-link-a-dye-do, As I went down to the mowin' field, Fod! As Twent down to the mowin' field, A big black snake got me by the heel. Tu roily day. 2. Well, Tfell down upon the ground, Tshut both eyes and looked all around. 3. Tset upon a stump to take my ~est; It looked like a woodchuck on his nest. 4. The woodchuck grinned a banjo song, And up stepped a skunk with the britches on. 5. The woodchuck and skunk got into a fight; The fume was so strong it put out the light. 6. They danced and they played till the chimney begin to rust;
Jt was hard to tell which smelt the worst.
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A9-ROLL ON THE GROUND (Banjo Piece).
Sung with five-string banjo by Tbaddeus C.
Willingham at Gulfport, Mississippi,
1939. Recorded by Herbert Halpert.
From Mississippi comes this typical five-string banjo song, part of a large family of such tunes found all the way from Maryland to Texas. This type of song is used for entertainment and for square dancing. The form is generally the same-a four-line stanza with a four-!ine chorus.
For songs of similar type, see Sharp, English Folk Songs.
CHORUS:
Roll on the ground, boys,
Roll on the ground;
Roll on the ground, boys,
Roll on the ground.
J. Work on the railroad, Sleep on the ground, Eat sody crackers And the wind blow 'em around. Chorus. 2. Work on the railroad, Work all the day, Eat sody crackers And the wind blow 'em away. Chorus. The remainder of the song is a repetition of these two stanzas and the chorus.
B1-THE LAST OF CALLAHAN.
B2-THE WAYS OF THE WORLD.
B3-GLORY IN THE MEETINGHOUSE.
Played on the fiddle by Luther Strong at
Dalesburg, Kentucky, 1937. Recorded
by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax.
During the whole period of the settlement of America and the expansion of the frontier, the favorite musical instrument of the settlers was the violin or, as they called it, the fiddle. It was light and extremely portable. Its shrill voice. could carryover the noise of any rough country dance. It was well fitted to play the intricate and unorthodox traditional folk airs that were the heritage of the pionec!"s. It carried with it the richest musical tradition that came to America-a whole world of delightful English fiddle, Scotch bagpipe, and Irish piper airs.
The fiddler played in a distinctive fashion, holding the butt of the instrument against his chest, grasping the bow near the middle, moving his whole body as he played, often retuning his instrument completely when he began a new air. The fiddler and his instrument were both held in considerable awe by the frontier community, so little acquainted with music. There is a story of a little boy, who, on hearing the fiddle for the first time, ran out of the house and hid in a cave for two days, because he thought the devil had been let loose in the room.
"The Last of Callahan," like many other fiddle tunes, carries its own legend with it. It is saiel and told that Callahan was to be hung. His last reguest was that he be allowed to play his beloved fiddle as he stood on the scaffold with the rope about his neck. After he played Ihis rune, he offered his fiddle to any man in the crowd who could perform the piece. He had played so brilliantly that no one dared to at(empt it, whereupon he smashed the fiddle over the rump of the mule, and the wagon moved out from under his feet. Ever since, the tune has been called "The Last of Callahan."
For a transcription of "The Last of Callahan," see page 56 of John A. and Alan Lomax, Our Singing COlintry (New York: Macmillan Company, 1941). For background material, see Jean Thomas, Devi!'s Dillies (Chicago: Wilbur Hatfield, 1931).
B4-GRUB SPRINGS.
BS-THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. B6-TEXAS BELL.
87-CINDY.
Played on the fiddle and sung by W. E.
Claunch, accompanied by guitar at Guntown,
Mississippi, 1939. Recorded by
Herbert Halpert.
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For more than two centuries the most important form of rccreution among white settlers has been the country dance or, ';S it is known variously, the square dance, the barn dance, or the breakdown. The fiddler with his lively stock of British and American dance tunes has always beell the central figure. His partner was the prompter or ··set-caller." who chanted the directions for the whiriing dancers"
Chickcn in the bread tray, pickin' up
dOU2h.
Meet )10UI" partner and do-si-do."
The c.1nnce generally lasted from sunset to midnight. Sometimes in country communities where dances were rare, because the people were seldom able to come together frol11 their scattered farms or ranches, the dances would Insl all night long. There is the yarn of a Texas square dance that lasted for a week. The occasion was the arrh·al of an itinerant fiddler in a community where there had not been any music for several years. The people came in shifts for a week. driving their buckboard wagons from rnnches within n circle of a hundrc'd miles. The poor fiddlcr only knew one tunc, and he had to play it over and over the whole week long.
For a timc......during the first years of this century, the square dance went our of vogue; but it has now begun to recstablish itself everywhere ami. though not so common as it once was, is yet known in every part of the United States.
For background material sec Elizabeth Burchellal, AWC'I";c·all CouJltry Dallcl'.\· (G. Schirmer. New York, 1918): Captain Francis O'Neill. O'Neill's Iri.\11 Ro.,e (Chicago: lyon and Healy, 1915); Beth Tolman and Ralph Page, The Coulltry Da/lce Book (Boston: E. C. Schirmer. 1937); Elias Howe. Mllsical Omllibn\ (New York: F. Blume. 1863).
B7-CINDY
Once I had a prctty g:rI,
Whose name was Katy Brown.
Everywhere Kat)' went,
I was hangill" around.
Kiss me. girl!
Kiss me a!.!ain!
Now hug ~lY neck!
O--! I'm holdin' Gn!
Kiss me. girl!
Kiss me ~~gain! O--J r~l holdin· on~
B8-0LD JOE CLARK. B9-CHILLY WINDS,
Played on five-string banjo hy Wade Ward at Galax, Virginia, 1939, Recorded by Pete Seeger and Alan Lomax,
BIO-CRIPPLE CREEK,
Played on five-SIring banjo by Herbert Smoke at Winchester, Virginia, 1940. Recorded by Alan Lomax,
BII-COAL CREEK MARCH. Played on five-string banjo by Pete Steele at Hamilton, Ohio, 1938. Recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax,
The history of the provenience of the banjo is one of the most interesting s(ories in the history of American folksong. T~hc instrument itself is an Afro-American dev;lopment. later adopted and popularized by the black-facc minstrel shows which, during the whole:: of the nineteenth century. carried it over the United States. lt became quite a fashionable instrument in the latter part of thc ninetecnth century and highly complex compositions and arrangements were made for it. Some time after the middle years of the century it was introduced into the sOllthern mountain area along with a ICHQe number of the minstrel tunes that ~\Vcrc ndapt~d to the instrument. For a half century thereafter the banjo ranked with the fiddle as the most typical instrument of the southern mountain reeion. On the contrary it is rarc these days to dr"covcr a Negro banjo played anywhere in the South. The mountain style of banjo playing is a folk development and the songs composed for it by mountain virtuosos represent an important nrea of growth for American folk mllsie.
BI2-JOHN HENRY (Square Dance).
Played b)' Wallace Swann and his Cherokee String Band, with square dancing at Asheville Folk Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, 1941. Recorded by Alan Lomax,
In the last fifteen years, as the radio reached the most remote districts with symphony orchestras and with highly arranged jazz, the people have made a radical departure from their oldfashioned musical styles. In the place of the unaccompanied song or fiddle tunc, they have adapted the guitar, the electric guitar, the bass fiddle, the piano and even the trumpet to their favorite melodic styles. In competition with hot
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jazz, their dances have become faster in tempo. They have learned to play in small instrumental ensembles. They have made many songs which, in the matter of sentimentality, have the same attraction as the popular songs of the city. This whole field of folk-popular music is known as "hill-billy." The present record of a contemporary folk performance in this style was made on the stage of a mountain folk festival in Asheville, North Carolina, during a squarc dance competition. The participants were all young~ the musicians, using two guitars (one of them elcctric) and a banjo, were young. Tn the foreground one can hear the roar of the dancers and the cheers of the crowd. This is American folk music, 1942.
BI3-TH£ TRAIN (Harmonica Solo).
Played on the harmonica by Chub Parham
wilh clogging al Asheville Folk
Festival, Asheville, North Carolina,
1941. Recorded by Alan Lomax.
For the past forty years thc people have regarded the black smoking railroad train as heroic. The train provided a means of escape from an environment that was too narrow; it was a symbol of frcedom and strength. In the blues, in jazz, in modern spirituals, in "hill-billy" music, onc is constantly being reminded of the train-its rhythm colors text and accompaniment. This record is a rendition of a dcscriptive piece aboLlt the train for the harmonica that is known by both Negro and whitc musicians. The train is represented as rushing ncross the countrysidc in thc lonesomc night. blowing its whistle, roaring over bridges, saying "hello" and "goodbyc" to the rcstless heart of Amcrica.
Both BI2 and B13 arc reproduced through thc courtesy of Bascom Lamar Lunsford.