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I heard a recording of "Jay Gould's Daughter" by Pete Seeger this evening, and I thought I might work it up and add it to my repertoire. There hasn't been any discussion of the song, so I thought it might be worthy of a DTStudy thread.
Here are the lyrics we have in the Digital Tradition. Any corrections, and can anybody provide other versions? Many recordings have essentially the same lyrics, but begin with the "Monday Morning" verse and insert the "fix the blinds" verse toward the end.
JAY GOULD'S DAUGHTER
Jay Gould's daughter said before she died
Papa, fix the blinds so the bums can't ride.
If ride they must, they got to ride the rod.
Let 'em put their trust in the hands of God.
In the hands of God.
In the hands of God.
Let them put their trust in the hands of God.
Jay Gould's daughter said, before she died,
There's two more trains I'd like to ride.
Jay Gould said, "Daughter, what can they be ?"
The Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe.
The Santa Fe, etc.
Jay Gould's daughter said, before she died,
There's two more drinks I'd like to try.
Jay Gould said, "Daughter what can they be?
They's a glass o' water and a cup o' tea.
A cup o' tea, etc.
On a Monday morning it begin to rain.
'Round the curve come a passenger train.
On the blinds was Hobo John.
He's a good old hobo, but he's dead and gone.
Dead and gone, etc.
Charlie Snyder was a good engineer
Told his fireman not to fear
Pour on your water, boys, and shovel on your coal
Stick your head out the window, see the drivers roll
See the drivers roll, etc.
@railroad @drink
From Folksinger's Wordbook, Compiled by Fred and Irwin Silber,
filename[ JGOULD1
TN
apr97
This is an exact transcription of the lyrics in Silber & Silber's Folksinger's Wordbook (Oak Publications, 1973), page 102.
I figured this song was written by a songwriter in the early 20th century, but maybe I was wrong. Looks like the song could be a lot more fragmented in its background than I thought.
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on the song:
Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16]
DESCRIPTION: Engineer Joseph Mikel is determined to remain on schedule. As a result, he runs too fast to avoid a collision with another train. The result was disastrous: "Some were crippled and some were lame, But the six-wheel driver had to bear the blame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: train wreck disaster crash
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1836-1892 - Life of Jay Gould. He made his fortune in railroads, largely by stock manipulation, and was worth an estimated $100,000,000 when he died
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws I16, "Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16]"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 385-389, "Milwaukee Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 317, "Joseph Mica" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 364-365, "Jay Gould's Daughter and On the Charlie So Long" (2 texts, 1 tune); 368-369, "Mama, Have You Heard the News" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 36-42, "Casey Jones," "The Wreck of the Six Wheel Driver," "Ol' John Brown," "Charley Snyder" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 238, (no title) (1 fragment, beginning "Jay Gooze said befo' he died); p. 247, (no title) (a fragment beginning "Great big tie an' little bitty man, Lay it on if it breaks him down"; the form appears to be a member of this family); p. 250, (no title) (1 short text, about "Joseph Mica")
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 64, "Kassie Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 114-115, "Jay Gould's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 456, "Been on the Cholly So Long" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 209-213, "Casey Jones"; "Casey Jones"; "Kassie Jones" (3 text, with the first two belonging here and the third being the full "Kassie Jones" text of Furry Lewis)
Silber-FSWB, p. 103 "Jay Gould's Daughter" (1 text)
DT 791, JOEMICA JGOULD1
Roud #3247
RECORDINGS:
Furry Lewis, "Kassie Jones, Parts 1 & 2" (Victor 21664A&B, 1928; on AAFM1; Part 1 is on BefBlues3)
Roy Harvey & the North Carolina Ramblers, "Milwaukee Blues" (Supertone 2626, early 1930s)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Milwaukee Blues" (on NLCREP1)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Milwaukee Blues" (Columbia 15688-D, 1931, rec. 1930; on CPoole03, GoingDown)
Pete Seeger, "Jay Gould's Daughter" (on PeteSeeger16)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] (plot)
cf. "Ben Dewberry's Final Run" (lyrics)
cf. "Little John Henry"
cf. "On the Road Again" (floating verses)
cf. "Crow Wing Drive" (lyrics)
Notes: Laws says of this piece, "I have included 'Joseph Mica' not so much to establish its identity as a distinct ballad [as opposed to being a relative of 'Casey Jones'] as to emphasize the extreme instability and confusion which are characteristic of Negro balladry."
To put this in simpler terms, Laws has broken "Casey Jones" up into two ballads. The full forms are filed with G1; the fragments file here. How one establishes the dividing line is not clear; the "hero" of "Joseph Mica" may well be Casey Jones.
To make matters worse, Laws has garbled the entry and the information about Lomax and Sandburg. I did the best I could, but one should check "Casey Jones (I)" for additional versions.
To top it all off, Laws distinguishes "Jay Gould's Daughter" as a separate song (dI25), but ALSO files it here; given the things Laws files under "Joseph Mica" and their fragmentary state, I consider his distinction hopeless, or at least incomprehensible, and file those texts here. - RBW
I don't think it's hopeless at all to separate out "Jay Gould's Daughter/Milwaukee Blues" from "Joseph Mica". If it has a wreck in it, it's Mica; if it doesn't, it's Gould. - PJS
It should be noted that Furry Lewis' "Kassie Jones" is a fragmentary stream-of-consciousness incorporating a single verse from "Casey Jones" and many floating verses, including a couple from "On the Road Again." (Which is why I filed it here - RBW.) - PJS
Note: I *still* think we should split off, "Jay Gould's Daughter" from the other songs. - PJS
The correct answer, ultimately, is to have some system for filing floating fragments -- somehow there needs to be a way to track everything with the "Pretty Little Foot" verses, and the "Jay Gould" fragment, and so forth. A suggestion for the next generation Ballad Index, I suppose. - RBW
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