This morning, my mother-in-law was paging through my copy of Belden's Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society and she came across this song and wondered what "when the goose hangs high" means. What I found was that geese fly high when the weather is good, so "when the goose hangs high" means when things are going well.
Stephen Foster's The Song of All Songs includes a mention of "The Goose Hangs High," but I don't think the song has been posted here.
I found that in the 1930's, a song called "The Goose Hangs High" was recorded by Louis Prima and by Woody Herman. Click here to find a clip of an instrumental recording of the song by Eddie Lockjaw Davis. It's a great tune, but I can't imagine it's the sme one mentioned in the Stephen Foster song - or is it? Oh, and there was a 1924 Broadway play called The Goose Hangs High, by Lewis Beach.
I found lyrics for two songs called "The Goose Hangs High." Here's the one from Belden:
THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH
In June of sixty-three, I suppose you all know,
General Lee he had a plan into Washington to go;
For Lincoln's men are going home, and then, my boys, we'll try,
While everything is lovely and the goose hangs high.
They started on the road, my boys, with Stuart in the van,
For forage it was getting low, poor rations had his men;
But our Union boys had seen the game, and here's the reason why:
They had watched the rebel tactics while the goose hung high.
They Stuart whipped with heavy loss, his F. F. V's so brave,
And back to old Virginia his command now flew to save;
And as they did not get this goose, you ask the reason why
They don't like Yankee cooking, and the goose was up too high.
But Lee he was not satisfied to leave this goose alone.
He said, 'My boys, we'll fix them yet; to Pennsylvania come,
Across Potomac's fords advance; let us these Yankees show,
And in spite of Hooker's army into Washington we'll go.'
Brave General Meade than took command of the true Union sons,
And soon they found their veteran boys were serving Yankee guns.
At Gettysburg we routed them; Lee says, 'To Richmond go;
We've missed the route to Washington, for they've hung our goose low.'
Jeff Davis now was getting scared, and sent for Lee to come,
As Richard* was in danger now instead of Washington;
But Meade he followed up so close, and made the Rebels fly;
They left ten thousand prisoners, while the goose hung high.
Now, Davis, light your pipe with us, our Yankee boys have won,
Lee has not got to Harrisburg nor into Washington;
Now Grant has taken Vicksburg, you never need to try,
You cannot whip the Yankee boys while the goose hangs high.
*Miswritten, evidently, for 'Richmond.'
notes from Belden: This is not of Missouri or the west, but of Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania and the battle of Gettysburg. It perhaps should not be included at all, since it is from print and I do not know that it was sung at the time it came into the collection. I have two copies of it; one through Miss Hamilton, in 1909, from Inez Leathers of the West Plains High School, who copied it from 'the pamphlet sold by blind Jasper Kinder, fiddler, and his wife;' the other through Miss Newell, in 1912, 'copied from an old book of ballads and songs, some new, some old, owned by Mr. T. B. Chandler, Farmington, Missouri. The book was bought by him from a blind man selling them through that town about ten years ago.' Although West Plains, Howell County, is something like a hundred miles from Farmington, St. Francois County, the 'blind man' and the 'blind fiddler' are very probably the same person. The texts are so closely alike that I give only the first.
As explained in Belden's notes, he did not have a tune for the song.
Here is the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index. Note that the Ballad Index found the song only in Belden.
Goose Hangs High, The
DESCRIPTION: "In June of '63, I suppose you all know, General Lee he had a plan into Washington to go." Stuart loses a battle, but Lee invades Pennsylvania; Meade replaces Hooker; the Union wins: "You cannot whip the Yankee boys while the goose hangs high"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 9, 1863 - Battle of Brandy Station. Union cavalry attack Stuart's rebel horse, but are driver off
July 1-3, 1863 - Battle of Gettysburg. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac holds off Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 372-373, "The Goose Hangs High" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Notes: Belden admits that this song may not have been traditional; both texts were copies sold as pamphlets, probably by the same blind man, Jasper Kinder.
After the Battle of Chancellorsville, northern Virginia was largely denuded of supplies, which made it hard for Lee to provision his army. In addition, the North's Army of the Potomac was, for nearly the only time in the war, shrinking; a number of regiments had volunteered in early 1861 for two years, and now were mustering out. With the Union forces weak and defeated, it seemed like time to invade the North.
The Union had a bit of a surprise waiting: Until this time, Jeb Stuart's cavalry had been much superior to the Federal forces. But Joe Hooker, the Union commander, had reorganized the union horse as a single corps (as opposed to un-unified brigades and divisions). For the first time in the war, they came looking for Stuart at Brandy Station -- and fought on fairly even terms.
In the end, contrary to the song, the Union troopers were driven off, and took more casualties. But they had shown they could stand up to the Confederates -- which would stand them in good stead at Gettysburg, where they beat off an attack by Stuart. Plus they had learned a lot about Rebel movements.
As the rebel forces moved north, Lincoln and his cabinet became more and more worries about Joe Hooker, the loser of Chancellorsville, who was still in command. Finally, on June 28, they induced Hooker to resign, replacing him with George Gordon Meade (1815-1872). It was Meade who held off Lee's attack at Gettysburg. The song is again too optimistic about the aftermath, though; while Lee failed to drive Meade off his position, Lee was not routed, and Meade pursued very slowly, inflicting very little additional damage on Lee's forces.
The day after the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 4, 1863, Grant captured the city of Vicksburg. It was the single best week for Union arms in the entire war.
I cannot for the life of my guess what the significance of a goose hanging high might be. I would note that a "Goose Hangs High Songster" was published in 1866 -- but I haven't seen it. - RBW
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