The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #48821   Message #735174
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
23-Jun-02 - 10:42 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Jenny Jenkins
Subject: Lyr Add: JANE JENKINS
The other DT file, JENNIE JENKINS, is quoted from a book called A Treasury of Folk Songs (Sylvia and John Kolb); no tune is given or traditional source named. Checking the first line through the Roud Folk Song Index suggests that this version is the one noted by John and Alan Lomax from Mr. & Mrs. E.C. Ball of Rugby, Virginia, in 1937. A tune in ABC notation was given for it in this thread:

Tune Add: Please Post Tunes Here (scroll down a bit to find it) but no source was named so I don't know if it's really the right tune for the text. Nevertheless, here is a midi made from it:

Jennie Jenkins (midi) (original source unknown).

Since the Green Mountain Songster text has come up again, I'll post it as it originally appeared:

JANE JENKINS

(From The Green Mountain Songster, 1823: compiled by "an old Revolutionary Soldier of Sandgate, Vermont".)

Will you wear grey, Onere, Onere?
Will you wear grey, Jane Jenkins?
No, I won't wear grey for its colour of the clay,
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise.

Will you wear black, Onere, will you wear black, Onere?
I won't wear black, for the colour it is slack,
So buy me the tallawalawise, so buy me the tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear,
Where are the robes that you wear, Jane Jenkins.

Will you wear red, Onere, will you wear red, Onere?
l will not wear red for the colour I do dread,
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear green, Onere, will you wear green, Onere?
I won't wear green for it's the colour that is mean;
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear white, Onere, will you wear white, Onere?
Will you wear white, Jennie Jenkins
O no I won't wear the white 'tis a colour I dislike,
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear yellow, Onere, will you wear yellow, Onere?
Will you wear yellow, Jennie Jerkins
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear blue, Onere, will you wear blue, Onere?
Will you wear blue, Jennie Jenkins
O yes, I'll wear blue for the colour of it's true,
So you've bought me mmy tallawalawise, so you've bought me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

As quoted in Vermont Folksongs and Ballads (Helen Hartness Flanders and Alice Brown, 1931). Original spellings retained. No tune was printed.

Roud Folk Song Index number 731.