Jackaroe - English version?

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 05:29 PM

Although Joan Baez sang it, I always thought it was an English folk song, somehow. Is there anything in that version that smacks of America, in particular?

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 08:24 PM

Terry,

'Jack went a-sailing' is almost certainly the same song: 'Jack went a-sailing' is just one of the 61 titles listed for this song in the Roud index, viz:

Bold Munro, The
Brisk Young Plow Boy, The
British Lady, The
Cuban Soldier, The
East Wind Blowing From The Southward, The
Ho Lilly Ho
Jack Frazier
Jack He Went A-Sailing
Jack Monroe
Jack Mulroe
Jack Munro
Jack Munroe
Jack The Sailor
Jack Went A-Sailing
Jackaro
Jackaroe
Jackaroo
Jackero
Jackie
Jackie Fraisure
Jackie Frazer
Jackie Frazier
Jackie Was A Sailor
Jackie Went A-Sailing
Jacky Frazer
Jacky Freasher
Jacky Robinson
Jacky The Sailor Boy
Johnny Fraizer
Johnny's Gone A-Sailing
Lilly Hugh
Lilly Munroe
Lily Lily Oh
Lily Monroe
Lily Munro
Lily Munroe
Merchant Of London, A
Merchant's Daughter, The
Old Rich Merchant, The
Old Rich Merchman, The
Outlaw's Lover, The
Pensacola
Poor Jack Is Gone A-Sailing
Poor Jack's Gone A-Sailing
Poor Jack's Gone To War
Poor Jackson
Poor Jackson's Gone A-Sailing
Pretty Polly
Rich Merchant, The
Rich Old Merchant, The
Sailor Jack
Sing Lay The Lily Low
Sing Low Laurie O
There Was A Rich Merchant
There Was A Wealthy Merchant
War Song
Wars Of Germany, The
Wars Of The Santa Fe, The
Wealthy Merchant, The
Willie's Gone A-Sailing
Young Jack The Farmer

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 04:34 PM

I learned Jackie Munro nearly fifty years back from a recording by A.L. Lloyd, English Street Songs, Riverside. If memory serves, the version that Moira sang at the house concert Chez Sinsull, was either the same, or so close as to be the same version.

This song contains some of my most favorite lines of all times, ie. "She smiled all over her face, she did...", et al.

I don't sing it too often as it is long and the audience does need to pay attention. Maybe next year...   

Tom

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 01:08 PM

I might be completely wrong about this, but......
I can 'hear' Steve Benbow singing this song and I think it was on the Pinch of Salt LP where it's entitled 'Jack went a-sailing.' Is this the same song?

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: open mike
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 11:33 AM

here is the version i played on my last radio show:
David Ferrard / Jackaro / Across Troubled Wave / Alter R. D.....

            www.davidferrard.com....

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 09:57 AM

Moira Craig included a version of "Jackaroe" (under the name of "Jackie Munro" on her CD On Ae Bonny Day

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 08:15 AM

Thank you Snuffy.

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:39 AM

A recording not mentioned on the Ballad Index list is by Stuart Frank on Songs of Sea and Shore Folkways FH5256, 1980. In the notes he says "This version is a hybrid of two versions collected by Helen Creighton in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but certainly has more ancient roots in the British Isles"

If I go to JACKARO (no "E") in the DT, the Amazon thing on the right hand side offers me a choice of mp3s for 99p from Doug & Jack Wallin, Pete Seeger and Ewan MacColl, while JACKAROE also offers two other versions besides Dylan, Baez and the Dead.

Subject: RE: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:23 AM

It appears under a bewildering range of names and can be found on English broadsides from the 1820s. The versions I know are usually only the middle 5-or-so verses of the much longer original.

From the Traditional Ballad Index:

Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany) [Laws N7]

DESCRIPTION: A rich girl loves a soldier/sailor; her father does not, and has the boy pressed to Germany. She disguises herself and enlists under the name (Jackie Monroe). When her lover is wounded, she nurses him. She reveals her identity; they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1818 (Garret, _Merrie Book of Garlands_)
KEYWORDS: love cross-dressing disguise injury medicine marriage
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(Scotland) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (28 citations):
Laws N7, "Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany)"
Greig #45, pp. 1-2, "Jack Munro" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 171, "Jack Munro" (8 texts, 6 tunes); GreigDuncan1 172, "Jackie Went A-Sailing" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 171-177, "Jack Munro" (5 texts)
Randolph 42, "Men's Clothes I Will Put On" (Of Randolph's six texts, only two -- "C", with melody, and "F" -- belong with this piece; "A" and probably "D" are variants of "The Banks of the Nile"; "B" and "E" may be "Banks of the Nile" or "William and Nancy I")
Eddy 35, "Jack Went A-Sailing" (2 texts plus fragments, 3 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 59, "The Wealthy Merchant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 139, "Jack Munro" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 143, "Johnny's Gone A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 99, "Jack Monro" (2 texts plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt)
BrownSchinhanIV 88, "Jack Munro" (4 excerpts, 4 tunes)
Chappell-FSRA 59, "Jacke Went A-Sailing" (1 text)
Hudson 34, pp. 147-148, "The Wars of Germany" (1 text)
Moore-Southwest 82, "Jackie Frazier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. "203-210, The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (4 texts, which despite Scarborough's title are all this song; local titles are "Jackaroe," "Jacky Freasher," "Jackie Frazier," "Jackie Frazier"; 1 tune on p. 410)
Brewster 37, "Jackie Fraisure" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peters, p. 152, "Sing Lay the Lily Low" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 38, "Jackaro" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 65, "Jack Went A-Sailing" (20 texts, 20 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 32, "Jack Went a-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Korson-PennLegends, pp. 53-54, "Jackie Frazier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-Singing, pp. 170-172, "Lily Munro" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 82, "Lily Munroe" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 98, "Jackie Fraisure" (3 texts)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 30-31, "Across the Rocky Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune -- a rewritten and expanded version by Roscoe Holcomb)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 82-83, "Jackie's Gone A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 121-123, "Jack Monroe" (1 text)
DT 331, JACKROE* JACKROE2 JACKSAIL* JCKSAIL2* ACROSRCK*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 23, #2 (1974), p, 16, "Lilly Munroe" (1 text, 1 tune, the Uncle Eck Dunford version)
Roud #268
RECORDINGS:
Pearl Jacobus Borusky, "Sing Lay, Sing Lay the Lily Low" (AFS 4172 B, 1940; in AMMEM)
George Davis, "Love of Polly and Jack Monroe" (on GeorgeDavis01)
Sarah Hawkes, "Ho Lilly Ho" (on Persis1)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Across the Rocky Mountain" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Doug Wallin, "Jackaro" (on Wallins1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(152), "Jack Munro," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(934), Harding B 11(392), Johnson Ballads 2086, Harding B 11(1835), "Jack Munro"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Plowboy (Little Plowing Boy; The Simple Plowboy)" [Laws M24]
cf. "Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser)" [Laws N6]
cf. "William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I)" [Laws N8]
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9]
cf. "High Germany ()"
cf. "The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging)" [Laws O33]
cf. "The London Heiress (The Brisk and Lively Lad)"
cf. "The Bonnie Lass o' Benachie" (plot)
cf. "The Chatham Merchant" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bold Munro
Pretty Polly
NOTES: The Cohen/Seeger/Wood version, from Kentuckian Roscoe Holcomb, shares some words with "The Girl I Left Behind." - PJS
The version in Fife and Fife, "Roving Cowboy," at first glance bears no relationship with this piece, since it lacks the ending about the girl rescuing the young man. However, the earlier verses are clearly "Across the Rocky Mountains," which is evidently a version of this song. "Roving Cowboy" has simply lost the ending. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.3
File: LN07

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Subject: Jackaroe - English version?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 04:56 AM

Jackaroe is in the DT, and can readily be found to have been recorded by the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

It looks however as if it may have been from an English root (possibly without the last verse of the DT version, just going by "feel".

Can anyone point me at English recordings or information about at earlier English root for the known American versions?

It may be under slightly different names such as "Jack A Roe" or "Jack O Roe".   That person's name seems odd too, calling to mind the Australian "Jackaroo".