Thoughts on mutations in transmitted historical ballads.

(1) A ballad progresses toward one or more stable end points. A stable end point consists of attractive words, phrases, lines, and stanzas. "Attractive" means "attractive to a ballad singer." The point is that as a ballad approaches stability it will contain less and less material that a singer might drop or change in passing it on.

(2) Historical truth is often *not* a factor contributing to attractiveness. Once a ballad has left "home" (in space and time), few if any singers will know the historical facts. Even those who do will often prefer telling "a good story" to telling the truth. Even ballad authors can be susceptible to this urge.

(3) I assume, however, that historical ballad originals will always contain *some* historic truth, at least as that "truth" is known by the author.

(4) This implies that historically correct but nonattractive elements of a ballad will tend to be lost. Attractive elements will tend to be retained, whether or not they are historically correct. Therefore attractive elements should be looked on with suspicion.

(5) If you are examining ballad versions for candidates for historic truth, you should pay special attention to rare elements. A rare element must be either new or nonattractive. If it were old and attractive it would not be rare. Most new elements will be attractive; otherwise few would be inserted into the tradition.

Having John Henry buried at the "white house" is surely an attractive element, implying as it does that he was so important that his grave was put where the nation's president could stroll out to it (for inspiration, perhaps!) Therefore "white house" falls under suspicion immediately.

Further, if the white house burial had been part of the original ballad, few if any singers would have changed it, or failed to pass it on, and there would be few versions of "John Henry" that name another place of burial. In fact, there are many.

Therefore it is unlikely that "white house" was in the original "John Henry."

"White road," on the other hand, is a rare element (one version, to my knowledge). Therefore it deserves serious consideration for historic truth. Sand Ridge Cemetery borders a white (with sand) road, which fits both "white road" and "buried him in the sand." In addition, "white road" is a logical seed for mutation to "white house."

I think it likely that we will eventually find John Henry's grave on Sand Ridge, if not in Sand Ridge Cemetery then in one of the other cemeteries there. (It is said that there are two others.)

"John Henry died on a Tuesday" is also rare (one version). Therefore it may well be correct. C. C. Spencer gave the date as September 20, 1882, but other facts demand that the year be 1887. September 20, 1887, *was* a Tuesday. The chance of randomly finding this agreement is, of course, one in seven.

John Henry being, or being buried, "'tween them mountains" or "between two mountains" is also rare (one version each) and therefore a serious candidate for truth. This fits Dunnavant, Alabama, well. I doubt that it fits any other candidate spot as well.

"Virginny gave him birth" (speaking of "Captain Tommy") is rare (one version) and therefore a serious candidate for truth. Captain Dabney was, in fact, born in Virginia. He moved to Mississippi when less than a year old.

"John Henry went blind" is rare (one version) (truth?) So is "pain in my heart" (one version) (truth?) "Roaring in my ears" is uncommon (truth?) but found in a few versions. C. C. Spencer, self-proclaimed eyewitness, said that when John Henry Dabney revived after collapsing, he said, "I am blind and dying." Spencer's description of John Henry's death seems to Dr. Steven Harris to be a classic case of ventricular rupture: "strokes don't do this. You can get blindness with a posterior vertebral stroke, but it shouldn't kill you right off-- or make you unconscious. And unconsciouness which reverses when he person is laid down is classic for blood loss shock. As is blindness and a roaring in the ears (all low blood pressure things)... Ventricular rupture (a literal broken heart from a section giving way after a heart attack that kills that bit of tissue) is the best I can do from the description you give. And chest pain would precede, from the ischemia of the heart attack itself (though the rupture itself is often fairly painless)."

There's more of this kind of thing, but my wife calls and I must go.