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Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Old-Time Breakdown and sea shanty; Widely known
ARTIST: From William Cullen Bryant- 1843
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: From mid- 1800’s,
RELATED TO: "Uncle Ned" (floating lyrics); “Hog-eye” (lyrics) "Shallo Brown," “John Come Down de Holler;” “Can’t Ye Hilo;” “Hilo Boys, Hilo;” “Hilo Johnny Brown;” “Hullabaloo Belay.”
RECORDING INFO: Johnny Come Down to Hilo: Pete Seeger, "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" (on PeteSeeger04); Clemmens, Ginni. Sing a Rainbow and Other Children Songs, Folkways FC 7637, LP (1967), cut#A.02; Eskin, Sam. Sea Shanties and Loggers' Songs, Folkways FA 2019, LP (1951), cut# 5; Tom's Gone to Hilo: Boarding Party. Fair Winds and a Following Sea, Folk Legacy FSI-109, LP (1987), cut#A.01; Clayton, Paul. Whaling and Sailing Songs from the Days of Moby Dick, Tradition TLP 1005, LP (196?), cut#A.10 (Johnny's Gone to Hilo); MacColl, Ewan. Sailor's Garland, Prestige International Int 13043, LP (196?), cut#A.05; Hilo: Hoopii, Sol. Sol Hoopii, Vol. 1, Rounder 1024, LP (1977), cut# 15; Hilo Au Hilo E: Beamer, Keola & Kapono. Keola & Kapono Beamer, Music of Polynesia MOP 29000, LP (197?), cut# 7; Hilo Hula: Brozman, Bob. Blue Hula Stomp, Kicking Mule KM 173, LP (1981), cut#B.05; Hilo John Brown: MacColl, Ewan. Sailor's Garland, Prestige International Int 13043, LP (196?), cut#B.06; Hilo March: Brother Oswald and Charlie Collins. Oz and Charlie, Rounder 0060, LP (1976), cut# 4; Brozman, Bob. Blue Hula Stomp, Kicking Mule KM 173, LP (1981), cut#A.03; Rogers, David. Music of Hawaii, National Geographic Soc. 0706, Lp (1974), cut# 11; Smeck, Roy. Hula Blues, Rounder 1012, LP (1974), cut# 14; Hilo Somebody: Lloyd, A. L.. Sailor's Garland, Prestige International Int 13043, LP (196?), cut#A.08; Shallow Brown; Boarding Party. Tis Our Sailing Time, Folk Legacy FSI-097, LP (1983), cut#B.07; Warner, Jeff; and Jeff Davis. Wilder Joy, Flying Fish FF-431, LP (198?), cut# 5; Uncle Ned: Jarrell, Tommy. Come and Go With Me, County 748, LP (1974), cut# 6; Sexton, Morgan. Rock Dust, June Appal JA 0055, LP (1989), cut# 10; Hullabaloo (Belay) – Johnson: Folk Singers. Run Come Hear, Elektra EKL-157, LP (196?), cut#A.05; Forbes, Walter. Folk Song Festival, RCA (Victor) LSP-2670, LP (1963), cut#B.03; The Group. 'The Group' Visits Puget Sound, Golden Crest CR 3056, LP (196?), cut#B.02;
OTHER NAMES: “Johnny Walk Along to Hilo;” “Johnny's Gone to Hilo;” "Tommy's Gone to Hilo;" "Tom's Gone to Hilo;" "Johnny's Gone to Hilo"
SOURCES: Doerflinger, p. 72, "Johnny Walk Along to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-ABFS, pp. 483-485, "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune) Chase, p. 157, "Johnny's Gone to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune); American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.483; Shanty's from the Seven Seas by Stan Hugill;
NOTES: The "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" songs related in name, text and/or tune are a mix of minstrel lyrics and sea shanty lyrics much like the “Hog-Eye Man.” "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" is related to the “Shallow Brown” versions including, “Hullabaloo Belay.” The earliest minstrel versions appear to come from the mid 1800’s African-American song- “Johnny Come Down de Hollow.” The earliest publications from the 1800’s include a broadside “Johnny Come Down to Hilo” and “John Come Down de Holler” by Dan Emmett.
"Johnny come down de hollow" is quoted in William Cullen Bryant, CORN-SHUCKING IN SOUTH CAROLINA--FROM THE LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER (BARNWELL DISTRICT, South Carolina, March 29, 1843) In Roger D. Abrahams, Singing the Master: The Emergence of African-American Culture in the Plantation South (1992; Penguin, 1993), this song is in quotations from Bryant's Letter and William Wells Brown, M.D., My Southern Home, or the South and Its People (Boston, A.G. Brown and Co.. 1880) [pp. 224 and 249 respectively].
From Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy (U of Oklahoma Pr, 1962, 1977, pp. 241-242): Though the versification reveals Emmett's hand, numerous lines and images were nevertheless lifted, according to professional custom, from earlier minstrel songs. Appearing alongside passages from English folk texts and such urban colloquialism as "o.k." are many bits from the workaday reality of the slave, as well as such expressions as "going home," "traveling a rocky road," and "joining the union," which, though stripped of their religious meaning, derive from Negro spirituals. The following song, which was sung in the early forties by colored plantation hands in South Carolina as they shucked corn, is a good example:
Johnny come down de hollow. Oh, hollow!
Johnny come down de hollow. Oh, hollow!
De *trader man got me. Oh, hollow!
De speculator bought me. Oh, hollow!
I'm sold for silver dollars. Oh, hollow!
Boys, go catch de pony. Oh, hollow!
Bring him round de corner. Oh, hollow!
I'm goin' away to Georgia. Oh, hollow!
Boys, good-bye forever. Oh, hollow!*
Emmett remembered almost all of these lines when he composed his walk-arounds. The opening he borrowed literally for his "John Come down de Hollow," and the rest he paralleled, in practically the same sequence, in his "Road to Georgia" and its alternate text version "Road to Richmond" as follows: "De niggar trader tink me nice" ("De speculator tink me nice"), "De white folks sell me for half price" (later: "We'll fotch a thousand dollars down"), and "Under way, under way Ho! we are on de way to Georgia." [*Quoted in Norris Yates, "Four Plantation Songs Noted by William Cullen Bryant," Southern Folklore Quarterly (December, 1951)]
Quoted from Francis Fedric, Slave Life in Virginia and Kentucky; or, Fifty Years of Slavery in the Southern States of America (1863): [Page 47] In the autumn, about the 1st of November, the slaves commence gathering the Indian-corn, pulling it off the stalk, and throwing it into heaps. Then it is carted home, and thrown into heaps sixty or seventy yards long, seven or eight feet high, and about six or seven feet wide. Some of the masters make their slaves shuck the corn. All the slaves stand on one side of the heap, and throw the ears over, which [Page 48] are then cribbed. This is the time when the whole country far and wide resounds with the corn-songs. When they commence shucking the corn, the master will say, "Ain't you going to sing any to-night?" The slaves say, "Yers, Sir." One slave will begin:--
"Fare you well, Miss Lucy.
ALL. John come down de hollow."
The next song will be:--
"Fare you well, fare you well.
ALL. Weell ho. Weell ho.
CAPTAIN. Fare you well, young ladies all.
ALL. Weell. ho. Weell ho.
CAPTAIN. Fare you well, I'm going away.
ALL. Weell ho. Weell ho.
CAPTAIN. I'm going away to Canada.
ALL. Weell ho. Weell ho."
From an early 19th century field worksong (also from THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICANS, pp. 153):
Oh, this is the day to roll and go,
Hill-up, boys, hilo;
Oh, this is the day to roll and go,
Hill-up, boys, hilo.
From the Traditional Ballad Index: Sea shanty, with chorus, "Johnny walk along to Hilo, Oh, poor old man, Oh, wake her, oh, shake, her, Oh, wake that gal with the blue dress on!" The verses usually consist of a scattering of lines from assorted Black and minstrel songs. Doerflinger says of this song that it was "doubtless invented by colored shellbacks, but [was] just as popular with whites" -- and indeed, Doerflinger's version is in white dialect while Lomax has a Black text. Even more interestingly, they don't have any lyrics in common except the chorus -- Doerflinger's only lyric is from "Uncle Ned," which the Lomax version does not quote.
"Johnny's Gone to Hilo" Sea shanty found in Chase, p. 157, "If I should die and be buried at sea, A mermaid's sweetheart I would be. Johnny's gone to Hilo! Heelo! Hilo! My Johnny's gone, what shall I do? Johnny's gone to Hilo." Possibly a fragment of another Hilo shanty, though the form is unusual.
Terry includes "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" in "The Shanty Book" Part I, 1921, and comments, "This is clearly of negro origin. I learn't several variants of it, but for its present form I am indebted to Capt. W. I. Dowdy." Compare with "Gal With the Blue Dress On," as sung by A.L. Lloyd on the Prestige collection, "A Sailor's Garland." Here, Lloyd writes, "A halyard shanty, most shelbacks say, though at least one 19th collection names it a pumping song. Known to Liverpool seamen, but sounding much like a Negro composition."
THE NAME- HILO: Here's what Stan Hugill has to say about it from Shanty's from the Seven Seas: "...we will now run through those worksongs woven aroung the word 'Hilo'. Hilo is a port in the Hawaiian group, and, although occasionally shellbacks may have been referring to this locality, usually it was a port in South America of which they were singing--the Peruvian nitrate port of Ilo. But in some of these Hilo shanties it was not a port, either in Hawaii or Peru, to which they were referring. Sometimes the word was a substitute for a 'do', a 'jamboree', or even a 'dance'. And in some cases the word was used as a verb--to 'hilo' somebody or something. In this sense its origin and derivation is a mystery. Furthermore, since shanties were not composed in the normal manner, by putting them down, it is on paper quite possible many of these 'hilos' are nothing more than 'high-low', as Miss Colcord has it in her version of We'll Ranzo Ray. Take your pick!"
Stan includes several Shallow Brown shanties as a "detour" in this chapter, indicating there is a definite relation. He also has this to say about the song in question, Johnny Come Down to Hilo, which accords with what has been said previously [politically incorrect phraseology edited]:
"Now we come to the last of our Hilo series, one well known nowadays, thanks to Terry's making it popular in schools, and so on. This is Johnny, Come Down to Hilo... The tune is Irish in origin and the wording is a mixture of Negro catch-phrases, of lines from Negro and *African-American minstrel ditties, and odd bits from other shanties, e.g. Poor Old Man and The Gal With the Blue Dress... The normal use of Johnny, Come Down to Hilo was at the capstan when a steady march round was needed."
According to Hugill, Shallow and Shiloh are far more likely to be corruptions of Challow, which was a description of negros, and refers to the colour of skin. Challow = Sallow= salloh, salow, salo, etc. Used as a description of light yellow or dirty-grayish. "A man may be high colored or sallowe colored and yet not blacke;" usage goes back to the 16th century. It’s also possible that Hilo is just an expression with no real meaning: Hollow= Hilo= Shallow= Shiloh.
Tommy's gone, what shall I do?
Away, you Hilo
Oh, Tommy's gone and I'll go too
Tom's gone to Hilo
HILO! HILO!
William Rino sold Henry Silvers--
Hilo! Hilo!
Sold him to de Georgy trader--
Hilo! Hilo!
His wife se cried, and children bawled--
Hilo! Hilo!
Sold him to de Georgy trader--
Hilo! Hilo!
--J.D. Long, Pictures of Salvery, Philadelphia, 1857, p. 198.
SOLD OFF TO GEORGY
Farewell, fellow servants! O-ho! O-ho!
I'm gwine away to leabe you; O-ho! O-ho!
I'm gwine to leabe de ole county; O-ho! O-ho!
I'm sold off to Georgy! O-ho! O-ho!
Farewell, old plantation, O-ho! O-ho!
Farewell, de old quarter, O-ho! O-ho!
Un daddy, un mammy; O-ho! O-ho!
Un marster, un missus! O-ho! O-ho!
My dear wife un one chile, O-ho! O-ho!
My poor heart is breaking; O-ho! O-ho!
No more shall I see you, O-ho! O-ho!
Oh! No more foreber! O-ho! O-ho!
The response on the part of the rowers, O-ho!, easily changes to "Weel-ho!," "Yoe! Yoee!," "Shilo," "Hollow!," "Hilo!" noted in other songs. This song appears in many guises in various references. "Sold off to Georgy" (or other far south plantation region) seems to have been a constant fear of slaves working in the more liberal coastal Carolinas. Aye! Ayee!, is another of the chorused responses in a rowing song (This one has to be called a chantey!):
We are going down to Georgia, boys, Aye! Aye!
To see the pretty girls, boys; Yoe! Yoe!
We'll give 'em a pint of brandy, boys, Aye! Aye!
An a hearty kiss, besides, boys. Yoe! Yoe!
etc., etc.
"The words were nonsense; anything, in fact, which came into their heads." Heard in 1808, traveling by boat from Purrysburgh to Savannah, GA, by boat. John Lambert, Travels, II, p. 253-54 from Dena Epstein's study of pre-Civil War songs. Others have written of the singing of the Galley slaves on the larger rivers and estuary boats and canoes of the coastal and riverine South. Unfortunately, secular songs were seldom collected. Major attention was given to the spirituals on the part of collectors.
Ruth Crawford Seeger's AMERICAN FOLK SONGS FOR CHILDREN, pp. 96-97, called "Scraping Up Sand In The Bottom Of The Sea". The chorus goes:
Scraping up sand in the bottom of the sea, Shiloh, Shiloh,
Scraping up sand in the bottom of the sea, Shiloh, Liza Jane.
From Black them Boots:
Black those shoes and make them shine,
Shiloh, Shiloh,
Black those shoes and make them shine,
Shiloh, Liza Jane.
Excerpt from Limber Jim:
Limber Jim,
[All.] Shiloh!
Talk it agin,
[All.] Shiloh!
Walk back in love,
[All.] Shiloh!
You turtle-dove,
[All.] Shiloh!
Here is the earliest version of "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" I’ve found:
From Masato: "Johnny come down de hollow" is quoted in William Cullen Bryant, CORN-SHUCKING IN SOUTH CAROLINA--FROM THE LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER (BARNWELL DISTRICT, South Carolina, March 29, 1843) where the words are "De trader-man got me." In Roger D. Abrahams, Singing the Master: The Emergence of African-American Culture in the Plantation South (1992; Penguin, 1993), this song is in quotations from Bryant's Letter and William Wells Brown, M.D., My Southern Home, or the South and Its People (Boston, A.G. Brown and Co.. 1880) [pp. 224 and 249 respectively].
The light-wood-fire was made, and the negroes dropped in from the neighboring plantations, singing as they came. The driver of the plantation, a colored man, brought out baskets of corn in the husk, and piled it in a heap; and the negroes began to strip the husks from the ears, singing with great glee as they worked, keeping time to the music, and now and then throwing in a joke and an extravagant burst of laughter. The songs were generally of a comic character; but one of them was set to a singularly wild and plaintive air, which some of our musicians would do well to reduce to notation. These are the words:
Johnny come down de hollow.
Oh hollow!
Johnny come down de hollow.
Oh hollow!
De trader-man got me.
Oh hollow!
De speculator bought me.
Oh hollow!
I'm sold for silver dollars,
Oh hollow!
Boys, go catch the pony.
Oh hollow!
Bring him round the corner.
Oh hollow!
I'm goin' away to Georgia.
Oh hollow!
Boys, good-by forever!
Oh hollow!
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