"Sally Brown" Part 5

Versions & Variants

Each of the sources listed in the "Published Collections" category gives an independent "version" of "Sally Brown". This is somewhat the case with regard to the sources listed in the "Published Mention" category as well, but perhaps not in every case. In a number of these latter publications, we only get a title or a single verse and that verse is usually one or another of the key opening verses. I count roughly 50 different versions.

In addition to these different versions, there are also several "variants" of "Sally Brown" that have been collected, as well as the use of the "Sally Brown" lyrics with other chanties. I list them in chronological order.

{after 1865} Adams, Robert Chamblet, 1879 "Blow, My Bully Boys, Blow"
{1891-95} Masefield, 1906 "Tommy's on the Tops'l Yard" [halyards]
{1861-1872} Whall, 1909-1910 "Hilo, Johnny Brown" [halyards]
Lubbock, Basil, 1910 DEEP SEA WARRIORS "Hilo, Johnny Brown" [halyards]
Sharp, 1914 "O Row, Heave and Go" [Mr. Allison of Perth] [halyards]           
        "Roll and Go" [Short of Watchet][capstan]        
Terry, 1921(1926?) "Hilo, Johnny Brown"
Dingle, Aylward Edward, 1935, PIPE ALL HANDS, "Hilo, Johnny Brown" [halyards]
{1922-1945} Hugill,1961 "Walkalong, You Sally Brown" [Tobago Smith] [halyards]
        "Tommy's on the Tops'l Yard" [halyards]
        "Hilo, Johnny Brown" [halyards]
        possible combinations with "Shallow Brown"
{1960's} Abrahams, 1974 "Feeny Brown"

This category gives some sense of the diversity of "Sally Brown". There are at least seven different variants here and there are probably others that I have overlooked. Each source mentioned for a variant represents a particular version. This gives us about 12 more versions.   We thus have at least 62 different versions of a chanty having to do with "Sally Brown". I think that they are all independent of each other.