The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #52717   Message #808035
Posted By: GUEST
21-Oct-02 - 03:53 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Subject: RE: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Johnny Come Down to Hilo, and Hogeye Man, have several interchangable verses. See threads 11353 and 28208, among others. Hogeye and Johnny    
Shallow Brown has some of the same verses. See DT and posts to 7955 Shallow
Some random verses from Johnny-Hilo, not noted in skimming through the threads:
My little gal her hair is red
It's curly all over but not on her head.

But this little gal, she put some hair,
She put some hair on top of his head.

Her eyes are blue, her dress the same,
But she always fell asleep before I came.
I think these are from an old bawdy lp by Oscar Brand.

These were sung by Jesse Schaffer Johnny
My wife died in Tennessee,
They sent her jawbone back to me.

I set that jawbone on the fence,
And I ain't heard nothing but the jawbone since.

So hand me down my riding cane,
I'm off to see Miss Sarah Jane.

Keith, Hilo, pronounced He'-lo, was well-known in the 19th century. It was an important whaling, supply and victualizing port as well as a "playground" for the seamen, along with a similar port at Lahaina on Maui. Its port was a protected narrow horseshoe. In the 20th century, the big tourist ships came, but facilities were largely destroyed by a huge tidal wave whose effect was magnified by the bay's shape.