The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #19722   Message #203337
Posted By: GUEST,Murray on SS
29-Mar-00 - 01:11 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Jolly Rogues of Lynn
Subject: RE: song info: Jolly Rogues of Lynn
This is my version (learned in Canada in the late sixties)

In good King Arthur's days
When Arthur he was the king,
He threw three minstrels out of doors
Because they would not sing.
Because they would not sing,
Because they would not sing,
He threw [etc.]

Now the first one he was a miller,
And the second one he was a weaver,
And the third one was a little tailor,
Three jolly rogues together.
Three jolly rogues, etc.

Now the miller he stole corn,
And the weaver he stole yarn,
And the little tailor stole broadcloth for
To keep those three rogies warm
To keep, etc.

Now the miller was drowned in his dam,
And the weaver was hanged in his yarn,
And the devil clapped his paw(r) on the little tailor With the broadcloth under his arm
With the etc.

Now the miller still floats in his dam,
And the weaver still hangs in his yarn,
And the little tailor still skips through hell
With the broadcloth under his arm.
With the broadcloth, etc.

"paw(r)" is there to give the required internal rhyme.--The repetition in stanza 1 has always bothered me, though. There's been (way back in the twenties maybe) an examination of various versions of this, by Kittredge I think, in the pages of the Journal of American Folklore. Can someone look this up??