Lyr Req: Abraham's Daughter (Septimus Winner)

Subject: pete seeger
From: GUEST,Carl Stieren
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 04:17 PM

Thanks for this. I had heard that Pete Seeger had recorded "Swarthmore girls" somewhere. It was a tradition at Swarthmore to organize a folk festival in the 1950s and 60s and to pay for free admission for all students from the ticket revenues from outsiders ("townies"). From my year at Swarthmore (62-63), I remember at least one more verse to "Swarthmore girls", :

Swarthmore boys are good as gold,
never ever get too bold,
If a Swarthmore girl gets bored,
She can go to ... Haverford!

- Carl Stieren
Ottawa, Canada

Subject: RE: Abraham's Daughter
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Oct 02 - 11:34 AM

From the Levy Collection:

Title: Abraham's Daughter.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Arranged By F.H.H. Oldfield.
Publication: San Francisco: M. Gray, 613 Clay Street, n.d..
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Oh! the soldiers here both far and near, They did get quite excited
First Line of Chorus: For I belong to the fire Zoozoos, and don't you think I oughter
Performer: As Sung By Ben Cotton
Engraver, Lithographer, Artist: Nahl Bro's. L. Nagel. Print. From a Photo. By Bryan & Johnston
Subject: Portraits
Subject: Firearms
Subject: Civil War
Subject: Patriotism
Subject: Abraham Lincoln
Call No.: Box: 005 Item: 005

Title: Raw Recruits, or, Abraham's Daughter.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: na
Publication: New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 547 Broadway, 1862.
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Oh! kind folks listen to my song it is no idle story
First Line of Chorus: And I belong to the Fire Zou, Zous, and don't you think I oughter
Performer: As Sung with Great Applause by Bryant's Minstrels of New York
Engraver, Lithographer, Artist: Lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N.Y.
Plate Number: 5206
Subject: African Americans
Subject: Caricatures
Subject: Military camps
Subject: Soldiers
Subject: Campaigns & battles
Subject: Abraham Lincoln
Subject: Civil War--Union
Subject: Patriotism
Call No.: Box: 089 Item: 139

From American Memory:

Raw recruits, or, Abraham's daughter : as sung with great applause by Bryants Minstrels of New York. (New York : Firth, son & co., c1862.) [same edition as above; also HERE]
NOTES
Attributed to Septimus Winner in: Biographical dictionary of American music / Charles Eugene Claghorn, p. 480.

Abraham's daughter: as sung by Ben Cotton / arranged by F.H.H. Oldfield.
(San Francisco : M. Gray, [186-]) [same as Levy's first]

Abraham's daughter. J. H. Johnson, Song publisher, No.7 North Tenth St. Phila [n. d.; c1861] [song sheet]

Abraham's daughter. ... Johnson's, No. 7 North 10th St. Philadelphia [n. d.] [song sheet]

Abraham's daughter. ... Johnson's No. 7 North Tenth Street, Philadelphia. [n. d.] [song sheet]

~Masato

Subject: RE: Abraham's Daughter
From: belter
Date: 29 Apr 97 - 08:28 PM

I'm not sure how this got heat. I thought it was lost.

Subject: pete seeger
From: belter
Date: 15 Apr 97 - 12:08 PM

There's a track on a Pete Seeger album (I'm not sure which one), which contains fractions of several songs, my purpose here is mainly to provide those fragments to the DT, but I would be interested in knowing if there is any more to some of these. By the way I'm doing this from memory, and it’s possible I might be mixed up as to where I heard some of these, since I have them lumped together in my mind along with a few other ditties. I've checked the DT and I'm reasonably sure I'm not duplicating.

Swarthmore girls are free from sin
Drink no whiskey beer or gin
But a few with morals loose
Sit and sip tomato juice (short a)

From here on up
The hills don’t get any higher
From here on up
The hills don’t get any higher
But the valleys get deeper and deeper

Why do Scots men leave the country?
Why do Scots men emigrate?
They are following the whiskey
That's being exported crate by crate

Oh! You can give marriage a whirl
If you got some cash in your purse
But don’t marry no one but a Texas gal
'Cause no matter what happens, she's seen worse

Then there is a verse from A PRISONER FOR LIFE (in the DT) and what I think must be a haiku in Japanese and in English about Hiroshima which I don’t remember all of.

HTML line breaks added --JoeClone, 10-Nov-01.

Subject: RE: Abraham's Daughter
From: belter
Date: 26 Apr 97 - 03:38 PM

In the recent discovery chanel documentery about dueling, they presented a theory that at least from a sothern point of view, the civil war was sort of a big duel to satisfy honor. This song shows that some northerners may have felt the same. And at least one of them even put it into words.

Subject: RE: Abraham's Daughter
From: R. Joly
Date: 25 Apr 97 - 10:18 PM

Thanks Greg! I will make copies for our unit songbook.

R. Joly

Subject: RE: Abraham's Daughter
From:
Date: 25 Apr 97 - 09:42 PM

This is rather dumb. I fired off the message and left out part of it. Septimus had a brother who also wrote a few songs, most notably "Little Brown Jug". For a rather unusual treatment of this song, rent "Naked Prey" from your local video store.

rich r

Subject: RE: Abraham's Daughter
From: rich r
Date: 25 Apr 97 - 09:35 PM

A couple words about Septimus Winner. He wrote a number of songs with a Civil War theme during the 1860's. His two most famous songs remained popular into the middle of the twentieth century. One was "Whispering Hope" which I once had to learn for piano lessons. The other is "Listen To the Mockingbird". He sold the copyright to this one cheap when it was not an immediate hit, and later regretted it when it finally gained popularity.

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: ABRAHAM'S DAUGHTER
From:
Date: 25 Apr 97 - 06:40 PM

Per book Singing Soldiers by Paul Glass & Louis Singer:

Oh kind folks listen to my song
It is no idle story
It’s all about a volunteer
Who's going to fight for glory
Now don't you think that I am right
For I am nothing shorter
And I belong to the Fire Zou Zous (Zouaves?)
And don't you think I oughter
We're going down to Washington
To fight for Abraham's Daughter

Oh should you ask me who she am
Columbia is her name sir
She is the child of Abraham
Or Uncle Sam the same, sir
Now if I fight, Why ain’t I right
And don't you think I oughter
The volunteers are pouring in
From every loyal quarter
And I'm goin' long to Washington
To fight for Abraham's Daughter

They say we have no officers
But ah! They are mistaken
And soon you'll see the rebels run
With all the fuss they're makin'
For there is one who just sprung up
He'll show the foe no quarter
(McClellan is the man I mean)
You know he hadn't oughter
For he's gone down to Washington
To fight for Abraham's daughter

We'll have a spree with Johnny Bull
Perhaps some day or other
And won't he have his fingers full
If not a deal of bother
For Yankee boys are just the lads
Upon the land or water
And won't we have a "bully" fight
And don't you think we oughter
If he is caught at any time
Insulting Abraham's Daughter

But let us lay all jokes aside
It is a sorry question
The man who would these States divide
Should hang for his suggestion
One Country and one Flag I say
Whoe'er the war may slaughter
So I'm a goin's a Fire Zou-a
And don't you think I oughter
I'm going down to Washington
To fight for Abraham's Daughter

Words & Music by Septimus Winner.

Enjoy! Greg

HTML line breaks added --JoeClone, 10-Nov-01.

Subject: Abraham's Daughter
From:
Date: 24 Apr 97 - 09:05 PM

Am looking for the words to a Civil War era song called Abraham's Daughter. The Chorus goes like this

"Going down to Washington to fight for Abraham's Daughter"

Thank you, R. Joly