The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #40474   Message #3523305
Posted By: Joe Offer
06-Jun-13 - 12:26 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Click Go the Shears
Subject: RE: Origins: Click Go the Shears
The earliest version found in the Traditional Ballad Index was the one collected by Meredith in 1953. You beat that by a long shot, Mark.

Click Go the Shears

DESCRIPTION: A description of shearing life: The race to shear the most sheep, the boss complaining of the quality, the constant clicking of the shears. The rules for shearing are briefly mentioned. Chorus: "Click, click, click, that's how the shears go...."
AUTHOR: unknown (music by Henry Clay Work: "Ring the Bell, Watchman")
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (collected by John Meredith)
KEYWORDS: sheep work contest
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 24, "Click, Click, That's How the Shears Go"; pp. 193-194, "Click Go the Shears" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 152-153, "Click Go the Shears" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 180-183, "Click Go the Shears" (1 text)
DT, CLKSHEAR*
ADDITIONAL: A. K. MacDougall, _An Anthology of Classic Australian Lore_ (earlier published as _The Big Treasury of Australian Foiklore_), The Five Mile Press, 1990, 2002, p. 290, "Click Go the Shears" (1 text)
Bill Beatty, _A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales & Traditions_, 1960 (I use the 1969 Walkabout Paperbacks edition), pp. 291-292, "Click Go the Shears" (1 text)

Roud #8398
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "Click Go the Shears" (on JGreenway01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ring the Bell, Watchman" (tune)
File: MA024

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2013 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.


[threads combined]