Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG The Jolly Waggoner

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG The Jolly Waggoner
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jul 11 - 04:04 PM

Can anyone get me the chords/tablature for the jolly waggoner? The simple ones like G, C and D-Thanks!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG The Jolly Waggoner
From: alanww
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 08:23 AM

And a happy hello to you, Joe.
Nice to hear from you and I'm surprised that you remember that journey! But I guess the English road system has less space and is faster & busier than most of the USA. Now let me think, where did I take you?
Anyway, the only reason that I entitled the thread in that way was that I copied and pasted its reference number & title from MMario's info on The Great Tune Hunt Permathread !
I should be off to Sidmouth FF tomorrow - if my campervan is ready after having a heart transplant ... Fingers crossed!
All the best.
"When first I went a-waggoning ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG The Jolly Waggoner
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 07:53 PM

OK, Alan, I've been wondering for a week - what does the 2138 mean in the thread title?
You'll notice I reduced the ALLCAPS in the thread title - usually we allow no more than one ALLCAPS word in the thread title. For aesthetic purposes, you know.....

-Joe-

P.S. And Alan, I want you to know that I will never forget you, since you were the first person to give this American a ride in an English car on an English highway. I was in the passenger seat, and I kept trying to brake, steer, and shift gears. August, 2002, it was - thanks again and again.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG THE JOLLY WAGGONER
From: alanww
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 05:29 AM

Thanks for the UTube recording, Vaughan, and the references, Malcolm & Steve.
I do sometimes use an older version of a tune, eg the Baring Gould & Sharp version of "Saucy Sailor" from their book "English Folk Songs for Schools", rather than the more usual Steeleye Span version. However, for this song, I think I'll used the (currently) standard tune.
See you in the Newt, Terry, if my camper has a successful heart transplant by then!
"Ride on, my lads, ride on!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG THE JOLLY WAGGONER
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Jul 08 - 03:47 PM

And I havent sung it since this afternoon ! I stole it from The Yetties - The Towersey Festival Vinyl !

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG THE JOLLY WAGGONER
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 26 Jul 08 - 12:25 PM

Malcolm is right on it being a stage song, in fact the Music Hall itself. Off the top of my head I think it was Harry Linn who wrote and performed it c1860. I have some of his other pieces of sheet music but not that particular one unfortunately, but it should be possible to trace it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG THE JOLLY WAGGONER
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 26 Jul 08 - 05:25 AM

Other oral versions and broadside copies are listed in the Roud Folk Song Index under number 1088. Tunes are not consistent, true; indeed, one of Percy Grainger's singers (Edgar Hyldon) actually knew two completely different ones, though apparently none of the words.

The song appeared on broadsides of the early and mid-19th century as 'The Jolly Waggoner' and 'The Warbling Waggoner'; although extant copies of the former title seem largely to be earlier, they include Bedford's additional verses, whereas editions of the latter do not. Various editions can be seen at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

The Warbling/Jolly Waggoner

None names a tune. Frank Kidson thought it probably a product of the late 18th century, and that seems likely enough; I'd suspect a stage origin, as is the case with so many songs of this kind, but that's only a guess. Mayhew mentioned it in London Labour and the London Poor, and W S Gilbert specified 'The Warbling Waggoner' as the tune for a song, 'When first I went a-governing', in his burlesque Ruy Blas: A Preposterous Piece of Nonsense for Private Representation (Warne's Christmas Annual, 1866) so presumably it was still well-known at that time. To what tune, though, I can't at the moment say.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG THE JOLLY WAGGONER
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 12:13 PM

THE JOLLY WAGGONER

Subject: Tune Req: 2138 JOLLWAGG THE JOLLY WAGGONER
From: alanww
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 10:45 AM

This is a great traditional song, which I'm keen on learning, and, in addition to the versions on the Mudcat, I have found it in no less than 5 of the traditional song books in my collection, ie
A Garland of Country Song: English Folk Songs with their Traitional Melodies, 1895, S Baring Gould & H Fleetwood Sheppard p34;
English Folk Songs for Schools, c1905, S Baring Gould & Cecil Sharp p70;
A Touch on the Times: Songs of Social Change, 1974, Roy Palmer p56;
Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, 1975, Peter Kennedy p515; and
Book of English Country Songs, 1979, Roy Palmer p39.
Now, I have no problem with the words - I'll probably use those in the 1974 Roy Palmer book, possibly including the two extra verses c1835 from Paul Bedford.
However, each of the 5 versions seems to have a different tune, some being very different! Of course one should expect variation in tunes over the centuries but has anyone any idea which might be the original or the one most popular at this time?
I suppose that if I had the skill I could write down each of the versions of the tune in ABC and ask for votes but I haven't yet mastered that art. However, if I am able to get a friend to do so for me, I will post again.
"Sing whoa, my lads, sing whoa!"
Alan