Origins: When Johnny Went Spearmint Rhino

Subject: RE: Origins: When Johnny Went Spearmint Rhino
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Sep 13 - 06:52 PM

Does The Spearament Lose Its Flavor On the Bedpost Overnight?

Subject: RE: Origins: When Johnny Went Spearmint Rhino
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Sep 13 - 03:34 PM

...too quick a listen!

Regards

Subject: RE: Origins: When Johnny Went Spearmint Rhino
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 12 Sep 13 - 03:16 PM

The chanty is usually known as "Johnny Come Down to Hilo."

Popular (read: Folk Music) renditions tend to be based (melodically) ultimately in the form printed by RR Terry in his 1921 _The Shanty Book_.

The risque verses, while conceivably from various sources, seem to have been largely diffused from the album of "Salty Dick."

These sources have "re-entered" sites of oral learning, like sing-arounds, as well as being "covered" many times by recording artists.

There is a degree of tradition, but it has been reconstituted and the trajectory is fractured.

The song and its lyrics stand in for the quality of "being traditional" for many people, even if the performances are not so much.

Subject: RE: Origins: When Johnny Went Spearmint Rhino
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Sep 13 - 02:37 PM

A quick listen to a version on Youtube suggests the shanty "Poor Old Horse" as the origin.

Regards

Subject: Origins: When Johnny Went Spearmint Rhino
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Sep 13 - 02:22 PM

What is the tune called that the song 'When Johnny Goes Spearmint Rhino' is based on? I've just heard it and thought it might be a traditional folk tune...