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Lyr Req: One Meatball / Lone Fish-Ball

DigiTrad:
ONE MEATBALL
ONE MEATBALL (2)
THE LONE FISH BALL


Related threads:
(origins) Origins: One Meatball - blues song (53)
'One Fish Ball' - Il Pescaballo: Opera in One Act (17)
Lyr Req: One Meat Ball (Burl Ives) (43) (closed)
Lyr Req: One Meat Ball / One Meatball (Josh White) (22)
Lyr Req: One Meat Ball (answered)^^^ (2) (closed)


Colonel KC 04 Sep 99 - 08:32 PM
Wolfgang 04 Sep 99 - 08:51 PM
Wolfgang 04 Sep 99 - 08:56 PM
Joe Offer 04 Sep 99 - 09:07 PM
Guy Wolff 05 Sep 99 - 12:43 AM
Tiger 05 Sep 99 - 09:09 AM
Colonel KC 06 Sep 99 - 10:43 AM
dick greenhaus 06 Sep 99 - 04:12 PM
Joe Offer 06 Sep 99 - 04:45 PM
Tiger 07 Sep 99 - 07:23 AM
Joe Offer 07 Sep 99 - 07:22 PM
wysiwyg 16 Feb 00 - 03:19 PM
Abby Sale 16 Feb 00 - 09:09 PM
alison 16 Feb 00 - 09:13 PM
wysiwyg 17 Feb 00 - 01:08 AM
Stephen L. Rich 13 Jun 02 - 01:09 AM
wysiwyg 13 Jun 02 - 01:26 AM
Stephen L. Rich 13 Jun 02 - 01:56 AM
GUEST 25 Mar 07 - 03:04 PM
Jim Dixon 11 Mar 08 - 10:12 PM
Q (Frank Staplin) 12 Mar 08 - 12:10 AM
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Subject: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Colonel KC
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 08:32 PM

I am still looking for the lyrics to One Meatball. Its not really a "Folk Song" but an old vaudeville tune. However it was part of Josh White's repertoire and was part of Dave Van Ronk's repertoire for a long time. I haven't heard Van Ronk sing it in the past 15 years or so (which doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't do it) but I did hear Josh White Jr. do it last year. I just can't seem to remember all the words at the same time. It doesn't seem to be in the data base; and trying "One Fishball" as suggested didn't help either. Anyone know the tune who can help with the words?

Click for One Meat Ball thread


Messages from multiple threads combined.
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Wolfgang
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 08:51 PM

Here's a link to someone named Tiger (we also have a Tiger, BTW), who offers to provide the lyrics to this song on request.

Wolfgang


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Wolfgang
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 08:56 PM

The E-Mail addresses of both Tiger's are identical, what does this mean? C'mom, Tiger, give us the lyrics.

Wolfgang


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALL
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 09:07 PM

Hmmm. Maybe the three L's in this thread title made for search problems. Couldn't find it in the database, but there are several helpings of fishballs and meatballs here in the forum. click here and follow the links.
Lunch, anyone?
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 05 Sep 99 - 12:43 AM

Ry Cooder did it as well on what I think was his first cd...The one with a trailer on the cover...


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Subject: Lyr Add: LONE FISH BALL and ONE MEATBALL
From: Tiger
Date: 05 Sep 99 - 09:09 AM

Fortunately, Wolfgang, there's only one Tiger.

Just to get these all together (and hopefully, into the database), here are the versions I have:

    1. So-called 'original' version, with background info - contributed by rich r
    (I don't have the second version he mentions - think it's expired from the threads)
    Each verse sung twice
    2. Josh White version, transcribed from Longines Symphonette "Legendary Folk Songs".
    Interesting, because it has a refrain, and the verses aren't repeated.
    (This is the one I sing.)
    3. Version from my father-in-law, Bill Garneau, who INSISTS these are the right words.

Let's get #1 and #2 into the database..........Tiger

#1
"The Lone Fish Ball" appears in a 1926 publication by Sigmund Spaeth (Read 'Em And Weep, The Song's You Forgot To Remember). He includes it in his chapter of songs from the Reconstruction Days, i.e. right after the Civil War. Spaeth claims the song was printed in a collection of college songs in 1868 (Carmina Collegensia ed. by H R Waite). The song was subtitled "Founded on a Boston Fact (in the chorus of which all assembled companies are expected to unite)." Spaeth says it was one of the earliest of group of community songs, with the leader doing the two line phrase and then the crowd repeating it. The more recent version comes from the 1988 book "Joe Has A Head Like A Ping-Pong Ball" (aka A Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book) by Marcia & Jon Pankake. In this version the poor sould cashes in his chips as well as his pence.

rich r

THE LONE FISH BALL (version from Sigmund Spaeth, 1926)

There was a man went up and down,
To seek a dinner thro' the town.

What wretch is he who wife forsakes,
Who best of jam and waffles makes!

He feels his cash to know his pence,
And finds he has but just six cents.

He finds at last a right cheap place,
And enters in with modest face.

The bill of fare he searches through,
To see what his six cents will do.

The cheapest viand of them all,
Is "Twelve and a half cents for two Fish-ball."

The waiter he to him doth call,
And gently whispers - "One Fish-ball."

The waiter roars it through the hall,
The guests they start at "One Fish-ball!"

The guest then says, quite ill at ease,
"A piece of bread, sir, if you please."

The waiter roars it through the hall,
"We don't give bread with one Fish-ball."

Who would have bread with his Fish-ball,
Must get it first, or not at all.

Who would Fish-ball with fixin's eat,
Must get some friend to stand a treat.

#2
One Meatball - Josh White version

A little man walked up and down,
He found an eating place in town,
He read the menu through and through,
To see what fifteen cents could do.

    One meatball, one meatball,
    He could afford but one meatball.

He told the waiter near at hand,
The simple dinner he had planned.
The guests were startled, one and all,
To hear that waiter loudly call, "What,

    "One meatball, one meatball?
    Hey, this here gent wants one meatball."

The little man felt ill at ease,
Said, "Some bread, sir, if you please."
The waiter hollered down the hall,
"You gets no bread with one meatball.

    "One meatball, one meatball,
    Well, you gets no bread with one meatball."

The little man felt very bad,
One meatball was all he had,
And in his dreams he hears that call,
"You gets no bread with one meatball.

    "One meatball, one meatball,
    Well, you gets no bread with one meatball."

#3
One Meatball - Bill Garneau version

Oh, a man was walkin' down the street, lookin' for a place to eat.
A man was walkin' down the street, lookin' for a place to eat.

Oh, he found himself a gorgeous place, and entered in with gorgeous grace.
He found himself a gorgeous place, and entered in with gorgeous grace.

Then he took his purse his pocket hence, but all he found was fifteen cents.
He took his purse his pocket hence, but all he found was fifteen cents.

He scanned the menu through and through, to see what fifteen cents could do.
He scanned the menu through and through, to see what fifteen cents could do.

Now, the only thing that would do at all, was to buy just one, just one meatball.
The only thing that would do at all, was to buy just one, just one meatball.

So he called the waiter down the hall, and softly whispered "One meatball."
He called the waiter down the hall, and softly whispered "One meatball."

The waiter bellowed down the hall, "The gentleman here wants one meatball."
The waiter bellowed down the hall, "The gentleman here wants one meatball."

Then the guests, they turned both one and all, to see who wanted one meatball.
The guests, they turned both one and all, to see who wanted one meatball.

The wretched man grew ill at ease, and softly whispered, "Bread, sir, please."
The wretched man grew ill at ease, and softly whispered, "Bread, sir, please."

The waiter bellowed down the hall, "You get no bread with one meatball."
The waiter bellowed down the hall, "You get no bread with one meatball."


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Colonel KC
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 10:43 AM

Thanks to all and all. It don't matter ow the ell you spell it, you stills gets no bread!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 04:12 PM

Francis James Child (he of the Child Ballads fame) when in college was familiar enough with the One Fish Ball version to have composed a mock-opera about it. It was called Il Pescabello.


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Subject: The Lone Fish-Ball
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 04:45 PM

The copy of THE LONE FISH-BALL (click) in The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music was published in 1855. The sheet music says it was "Founded on a Boston Fact" and then something I can't read - can anybody make it out? It was, they say, "Sung by the Students of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass." The lyrics and tune appear to be the same ones that I transcribed from the 1909 edition of Heartsongs (click) and that Tiger transcribed from Spaeth (above).
Gee, I'd like to have seen that Fishball opera. Say, Child was a Harvard professor, wasn't he? I think I see a connection. Dick, tell us more about the opera.
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Tiger
Date: 07 Sep 99 - 07:23 AM

"Founded on a Boston Fact (in the chorus of which all assembled companies are expected to unite)."


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Sep 99 - 07:22 PM

Good eyes, Tiger (or a good monitor). I couldn't make it out at all, and I often can barely read the music at the Levy site. Do I need a new computer/monitor, or is it the Levy site that's lacking?
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 03:19 PM

Fred Campeau in Chicago used to do this in the 70's, and I think it was a different version. He can probably still be reached through Hogeye Music in Evanston, Illinois. Last I heard he wa with the Volo Bogtrotters.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: Abby Sale
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 09:09 PM

I saved many details from an old r.m.f thread on this. I also got hold of the College songs book. Interesting stuff. Some excerpts:

Per _The Josh White Song Book_. With music. Biography & song comment by Robert Shelton. (1963) In the "OMB" entry:

This version was adapted and composed by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer in 1944, and thereafter Josh was the chief popularizer of the song. According to the folklorist Kenneth S. Goldstein, a Latin Professor at Harvard had written a ditty in 1850 called "The Lay of One Fishball." Twelve years later Francis James Child, the great authority on British ballads, composed a burlesque operetta in Italian on the song, called "Il Pesceballo." The "mock operetta" was translated into English by James Russell Lowell, the famous poet, and performed in Cambridge for the benefit of Union soldiers in the Civil War. The song and opera then dropped into obscurity, until 1944.



Lax and Smith, in the _Great Song Thesaurus_ say the "The Lone Fish Ball" is credited to Richard Storrs Willis in 1855, but that it may well have been the work of a Harvard Latin Professor, George Martin Lane. As "One Meat Ball" it was rewritten by Louis Singer and Hy Zaret in 1945. . Botkin, in _A Treasury of New England Folklore_, says it was published first in 1857, although he doesn't know where. (This may have been the Willis version.) It was very popular, and two well known Harvard scholars wrote mock-heroic operas to its theme. Francis James Child did his opera in Italian, and called it "Il Pesceballo" and published in 1872; Botkin quotes the prose introduction, in Italian. James Russell Lowell's opera was in English, and Botkin quotes several sections. Sam Hinton La Jolla, CA

The quoted Spaeth version is true to the original except tha before the penultmate verse, the word "MORAL" is printed. Supposedly based on the true story of a New York Professor who had been in the habit of deeply negotiating the number and price of a partial order of buckwheat cakes & is eventially 86'ed from his favorite eatery.




Waite sent a survey to every US college for text & tunes of the songs sung currently sung by students. After two years of work, in 1868 he printed in 328 of the 1000 returns. These include songs of 21 colleges - all, Waite feels, of the US colleges that have any songs. (I think if today we sent a similar survey to _1000_ colleges, we'd be lucky to average one from each.)

Most of the returns were class songs & most of them were eliminated, although he includes a few that seemed to be sustained in the colleges, a very few of which date as far back as the 1820's. These generally showed "some intrisic merit or cast some light on some peculiar College custom."

For the others took care to "select those most valuable in reference to quality, permanency, and general interest."

As one would expect, most of the songs borrowed existing, well-known tunes. Some commercial, some popular, some traditional, some sacred... anything handy and, supposedly, widely known to students: "Annie Laurie," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Villikins and Dinah," Derby Ram," "My Country, Tis of Thee," "Cannibal Islands," "Antioch," etc. One undated song from CCNY uses "The Lone Fish-Ball"!! The tune must have made the rounds quickly - it was collected in NY 10 years after arising in Boston.

Some songs with fairly standard texts I recognize are: "I've a Jolly Sixpence," "The Mermaid," "King of the Cannibal Islands," (a "polite one, of course, Ed) "Goodnight Ladies," "Peter Grey," "Bingo," "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes," "Lowlands" ("Sweet Trinity") "Landlord Fill Your Flowing Bowl" "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." (An early parody, not the "Oor Hamlet" r.m.f's been threading) and a nice version of "Three Crows" intended to be lined out. It's clearly American, but not as crude as "Billy McGee McGaw." Three or four Childs.

"The Lone Fish-Ball" Founded On A Boston Fact: (In the chorus of which all assembled companies are expected to unite.)

by C:R. Storrs Willis As printed in _Carmina Collegensia - A Complete Collection of the songs of the American Colleges_, 1868, Oliver Ditson & Co., Boston


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: alison
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 09:13 PM

A fella sang "one meat ball" at our folk club last week..... tune was basically "the cat came back"...... which I played quietly behind him... sounded good......

slainte

alison


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALLL
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 00 - 01:08 AM

Alison, Two of my favorite folk heroes, one always did Cat Came Back, the other always did One MeatBall. Now these are all one?! Really warps the mind, but it needed warping anyway. This may be the adjustment I've waited for all my life!


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Subject: One Meatball
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 01:09 AM

I've been trying to learn this song on and off for years. I've lost the piece of paper upon which I last wrote down the lyrics (Who the heck knows how long ago). Could someone, please, help?

Stephen


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meatball
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 01:26 AM

It's in the DT and some threads, tho when I checked DT titles it did not come up. It DID come up when I put the title in the "Digitrad and Forum Search" box that sits just above the thread list, all the way over on the LEFT. Try that and see if it comes up for you. If you can't get at it I'll get back in there and post it again-- I hear the DT search functions have been working kinda funny.

~S~


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meatball
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 01:56 AM

I found it!! Thank you!!!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ONE MEATBALL
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 03:04 PM

A little man walked up and down , to find an eating place in town. He read the menu through and through. To see what one meat ball could do.
One meat ball
One meat ball
He could afford but one meat ball

He told the waiter near at hand, the simple dinner he had planned. the guests were startled one and all. To hear that waiter loudly call.
Repeat melody

The little man felt very sad, for one meat ball is all he had. and in his dreams he hears that call. You get no bread with one meat ball.
repeat melody


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meatball
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:12 PM

You can see sheet music for THE LONE FISH-BALL at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music (or click here for an easier-to-read pdf file).

The cover reads:
    STUDENT-SONGS,
    EDITED BY
    RICHARD STORRS WILLIS.
    No. 6.
    THE LONE FISH-BALL
    AN
    AMERICAN STUDENT-SONG.

    NEW-YORK:
    PUBLISHED BY FIRTH, POND & CO.
    No. 1 FRANKLIN SQUARE.
    [1855]
On page 1:
    The Lone Fish-Ball:
    Founded on a Boston Fact!
    (In the Chorus of which, all assembled companies are expected to unite.)
    Sung by the Students of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.
The lyrics are nearly identical to the Sigmund Spaeth version posted by Tiger above.

The sheet music indicates that each verse is to be sung twice: once by a soloist, then repeated in 4-part harmony.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meatball
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 12:10 AM

Verses 11-12 are labeled "Moral" in the Carmina Collegensis of 1868, and in Heart songs (posted by Joe Offer, thread 9179, the 'Burl Ives' thread).

The Boston fact may be a New York fact, and may be old, as it involves six pence in the footnote to the Carmina Collegensis printing.
"... a certain learned Professor of New York: whose habit it became to frequent a place down town where buckwheat cakes were furnished. Three buckwheats were given for a sixpence. But the professorial appetite surpassed three cakes. Six cakes would have been given for "twelve and a half cents," but twelve and a half cents was a stretch of finances. Whereupon our Professor orders five buckwheats, which are sufficiently appeasing to his appetite, and for which he is content to pay tenpence. But the buckwheat people have no checks for tenpence- their currency running in sixpence, shillings, and so on. The professor several times fets the five buckwheats and pays his tenpence therefor, but at last, from the trouble he gives, grows notorious. The Professor in fact becomes "blown" at the establishment as the Five-buckwheat-man; and is one day resolutely informed that he must either go the six buckwheats or three buckwheats,- or none at all. This upsets the Professor's pecuniary calculations, sours the buckwheats and his temper, and drives him away entirely."
What this has to do with fish-balls I don't know, but it is appended to the text and music to the song (p. 15).


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