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Kitty Alone
Traditional Song and Dance Tune- US and British Isles, Widely known
ARTIST: As sung by Cindy Mangsen & Anne Hills on Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: “Froggie Went A Courtin’” branch- 1549; “Martin Said to His Man” branch-1588
OTHER NAMES: “Who's the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Fooba-Wooba John,” “Johnny Fool,” “Kitty and I,” “Frog in the “Well,”
RELATES TO: “Martin Said to His Man,” “Froggie Went a Courtin’,” “Limber Jim,” “Kemo Kimo/Sing Song Kitty.”
ORIGINATES FROM: Two main sources of origin are: "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" and “Martin Said to His Man.”
SOURCES: Kinloch-BBook XIV, pp. 50-54, "The Man in the Moon" (1 text) Randolph 445, "Johnny Fool" (2 texts); Wyman-Brockway I, p. 22, "The Bed-time Song" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSNA 136, "Hurrah, Lie!" (1 text, 1 tune); Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 140, "Martin Said to His Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDING INFO: Beers Family. Seasons of Peace. A Great Family Sings, Biograph BLP 12033, LP (1970), cut#B.03; Bradley, Hank; and Cathie Whitesides. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#18a; Hills, Anne; and Cindy Mangsen. Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1. Martha Hall, "Kitty Alone" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Old Blind Drunk John -Feldmann, Peter. Barnyard Dance, Hen Cackle HC 501, LP (1980), cut#A.05 (Fubba Wubba John); Mitchell, Howie. Howie Mitchell, Folk Legacy FSI-005, LP (1962), cut#B.01 (Kitty Alone); Seeger, Mike. Music From the True Vine, Mercury SRMI-627, LP (1972), cut# 8;
We're A' Jolly Fu'- MacColl, Ewan. Scotch (Scots) Drinking Songs, Offbeat OLP 4023, LP (196?), cut# 1
Kitty Alone- Beers Family. Seasons of Peace. A Great Family Sings, Biograph BLP 12033, LP (1970), cut#B.03; Bradley, Hank; and Cathie Whitesides. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#18a; Hills, Anne; and Cindy Mangsen. Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1
NOTES ON KITTY ALONE: “Kitty Alone” is branch of the “Froggie Went Courtin’” and “Frog in the Well” songs. For detailed notes see: “Froggie Went a Courtin” and “Kemo Kimo.” It is also related to the “Old Blind Drunk John/Martin Said to His Man” songs and the text is found in the “Limber Jim/Buck-Eye Jim” group of songs.
NOTES ON KITTY ALONE- FROGGIE ORIGIN: One origin of the “Kitty Alone” text is the "Frog in the Spring/Frog in the Well” songs which is the “Puddy in the Well” offshoot of “Froggie Went A Courtin’.”
“A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go” or “Froggie Went a Courtin’” in the US: The air for this song (which Horace M. Belden believes is the most widely known song in the English language) first appears in Thomas Ravenscroft's "Melismata" (1611). It is an early version of the song ("Froggie Went A-Courtin'") famous in British and American traditional folklore and folksong, of which the earliest appearance was in Wedderburn's "Complaynt of Scotland" (1549) where it is called "The frog cam to the myl dur." Another early version is found in a broadside text of 1580, called "A moste Strange weddinge of the ffrogge and the mowse" (Rollins).
From David G. H. Parsons The History of "The Frog's Courtship" A Study of Canadian Variants: Tolman and Eddy document another group of texts from the Scottish tradition that contain a "Cuddy alone" burden or variation such as "Kitty alone." The origin or meaning of this burden remains a mystery. Here’s a typical verse:
There lived a puddy in a well,
Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone
There lived a puddy in a well
Cuddy alone and I
There lived a puddy in a well
And a mousie in a mill
Kickmaleerie, cowden down
Cuddy alone and I.
Here’s a typical verse from “The Frog” in the Well:”
There was a frog lived in a well,
Kitty alone, Kitty alone;
There was a frog lived in a well;
Kitty alone and I!
There was a frog lived in a well,
And a merry mouse in a mill.
Cock me cary, Kitty alone,
Kitty alone and I.
Many “Kitty Alone” versions of “Froggie” have been recorded, some are mixed in with the “Kemo Kimo” versions of Froggie.
Two more Canadian variants have this "Kitty alone" burden. Helen Creighton collected one in which the burden is altered to "Kitty in the kimeo" and another where it is "Kitty me love." In both cases the informants remembered only one verse. Tolman and Eddy give a detailed list of the published variants of this family and mention several developments. A burlesque using the 'kimo' burden was once popular on the African-American minstrel stage, and there is a different song, but still "Keemo kimo," on a British broadside, though obviously American in origin. (Parson)
Here is an example of the nonsense syllables in the Kemo Kimo chorus:
Keemo kyemo dell ray hi hoe
Rumpity Rump
Periwinkle soap fat
Link horn nip cat
Hit 'em with a brick bat
Sing song kitty catchy kye me oh
NOTES ON KITTY ALONE- MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN ORIGIN: In a long note on this song, Professor G. L. Kittredge shows that the “Old Blind Drunk John” songs derive from “a famous old English song, ‘Martin Said to His Man,’ and entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1588.” It is a lying song—“I saw a louse run a mouse.... I saw a squirrel run a deer.... I saw a flea kick a tree..., in the middle of the sea.” One Scottish version cited says, “Four and twenty Hilandmen chasing a snail,” etc.
Referred to in Dryden's 1668 play "Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feign'd Innocence" (act IV). It seems to have been very popular in the century prior to that. The American versions can generally be told by their narrative pattern, "(I) saw a ( ) (doing something)," e.g. "Saw a crow flying low," "Saw a mule teaching school," "Saw a louse chase a mouse," "Saw a flea wade the sea." Other names for “Kitty Alone” are “Who's the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Johnny Fool,” and “Fooba-Wooba John.”
Here's an example of the Martin Said to His Man- Kitty Alone:
Saw a crow a-flying low
Kitty alone, kitty alone.
Saw a crow a-flying low,
Kitty alone, alone.
Saw a crow a-flying low
And a cat a-spinnin' tow.
Rock-a-bye baby bye, rock-a-bye baby bye.
FINAL NOTES: It’s not difficult to distinguish the difference between the “Froggie Went Courtin’” and “Martin Said to His Man” versions. It’s more confusing to sort through and identify the numerous variants of the popular “Froggie” and categorize them.
Here’s a version of “Kitty Alone” from Cindy Mangsen Anne Hills:
As I came in by Bandyrowe
Kitty alone, kitty alone
Saw a crow flyin’ low
Kitty alone alee
Saw a crow flyin’ low and a cat spinnin’ tow
Kitty alone a lee, rockama-rye-ree
First came in was little John
Kitty alone, kitty alone,
One shoe off and one shoe on
Kitty alone-alee,
First came in was little John one shoe off and one shoe on
Kitty alone-alee, rocka-ma-rye-ree.
Way up yonder above the moon
Kitty alone, kitty alone,
Bluebird nests in a silver spoon
Kitty alone-alee,
Way up yonder above the moon, bluebird nests in a silver spoon
Kitty alone-alee, rocka-ma-rye-ree.
Way up yonder above the sun
Kitty alone, kitty alone,
Eagle flies when his work is done
Kitty alone-alee,
Way up yonder above the sun, eagle flies when his work is done
Kitty alone-alee, rocka-ma-rye-ree.
Big old owl in a tree
Kitty alone, kitty alone,
Just as sleepy as he can be
Kitty alone-alee,
Big old owl in a tree, just as sleepy as he can be
Kitty alone-alee, rocka-ma-rye-ree.
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