Origin: Mary Ann

Subject: RE: Origin: Mary Ann
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 22 - 09:02 AM

dear folks from mudcat thank you for the mary ann song. the tune you are thinking was the gernan song tanenboum more well known today as o christmas tree. the song that was written in 1957 was by terry gilkerson and the easy riders was a us pop hit.from joe.

Subject: Lyr Add: MARY ANN
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 06:07 PM

From an article, "Folk-Songs" by C. M. Barbeau, in The Journal of American Folk-lore, Vol. 31, No. 120, April-June, 1918, page 175:

4. MARY ANN.

Edward Hovington, Tadousac, [Quebec,] our informant, learned this song about seventy years ago from an Irish sailor whom a colonel had brought with him from Quebec, on board his yacht. (Phonograph record No. 447, Victoria Museum, Ottawa.)

Farewell, my own true-love!
Farewell for a while!
For the ship is ready,
And the wind blows high,
And I am bound away
For the sea, Mary Ann.*

Oh, don't you see [the] dove, you know,
Her sitting on yonder stile,
Lamenting the loss
Of h[er] own true-love?
And so am I for you, Mary Ann.

A lobster in the lobster-pot,
And a bluefish in the brook,
Might suffer some;
But [it] cannot compare
[To what] I bear for you, Mary Ann.
Farewell, my own true-love!

. . .**

I wish I had a bottle of gin,
Sugar enough for two,
And a great big bowl
For to mix it in,
[And] to make a drink
To my own Mary Ann!

My Mary Ann, my Mary Ann!
Mary Ann, Mary Ann, Mary Ann! [bis]
My dear little own Mary Ann!

* The last two lines are repeated twice.

** The text of this verse is incoherent.

[Note there is some discrepancy in the dates. Reinhard's post above said Barbeau heard the song from Hovington in 1920, yet here we have Barbeau publishing it (and crediting Hovington) in 1918. Only two years' difference, but still, one would hope for greater accuracy among scholars.]

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 03:03 PM

Sorry I didn't see Reinhard's more detailed post. If the song came out in 1856 it looks like the Irish sailor was passing on the latest very popular pop song to Hovington.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 03:58 AM

Does this Canadian trapper pre-date 1856?

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 23 Oct 14 - 07:41 PM

At http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/villagesights.htm it says, "In January 1961, 19-year old Bob Dylan stepped on to the streets of New York for the first time. He headed straight for Greenwich Village's thriving folk scene."

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Jason Xion Wang
Date: 23 Oct 14 - 12:04 AM

Has Bobby Dylan already been in the Greenwich Village in 1960? I think he came to NY in 1961 or so

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 22 Oct 14 - 08:56 PM

Thanks for all the responses!
Particularly liked the MAINLY NORFOLK site!

Here are a few additions:

Bob Dylan is credited with singing it at a private performance in 1960, and it appears on the CCOLUMBIA album DYLAN (this comprised of outtakes from previous albums - issued 1973 when Dylan moved to ASYLUM records)

The earliest cited revival recording by Peggy Seeger was originally issued on the PYE-NIXA npl 18013 Lp AMERICAN SONG TRAIN Vol.1 recorded Jan or March 1958, reissued on CD as cited by Keefer.

The liner notes:
Mary Anne, sung by Peggy Seeger with banjo, is an American
love song from Canada. the invention of a Canadian trapper,
who rhymed it together at lonely campfires on a long trek
through the Hudson Bay country many years ago. A relative
of the English TURTLE DOVE song, it was recorded by Marius
Barbeau , with whose kind permission it is reproduced here.

The Ian & Sylvia recording was reissued on CD (same as LP), and
MARY ANNE was included in the CD Ian & Sylvia The Best of the Vanguard Years.
Liner Notes by Nat Hentoff:
Mary Anne was collected from a Canadian trapper by
Dr. Marius Barbeau, the brilliant Canadian folklorist. Ian
and Sylvia learned the song from Edith Fowke, and so far
as they can recall, it was the first number they collaborated
on as a duo. One of the distinctive qualities of the team is
their capacity to communicate tenderness with unself-con-
scious grace and taste.


Best wishes, Thomas.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Oct 14 - 04:36 PM

Thomas,
You ask when and how did it enter the revival repertoire. I think you already have the answer in the references you give. The song has been recorded from oral tradition and that's where many revival singers ultimately derive their sources.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Oct 14 - 04:05 PM

I think what we have here is typical burlesque of the period, parodying the older folk song. I can't really see a nautical flavour, more emigration. The sheet music title is 'My Mary Ann, The Yankee Girl's Song', which is a little odd as it's obviously narrated by the girl's departing lover.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: meself
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 06:42 PM

Hmmm ... I wonder why that verse didn't catch on?

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Reinhard
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 04:26 PM

Perry Friedman sang two verses of Mary Ann in 1960 on his Topic EP Vive La Canadienne. The album notes commented:

    This unusual sailor's song comes from the collection of Dr. Marius Barbeau, the dean of Canadian folklorists. He heard it in 1920 in the town of Tadoussac in the province of Quebec. The singer, Edouard Hovington, who was then ninety, had been for many years an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, the famous fur-trading company which played such an important part in Canada's early history. He said he had learned it from an Irish sailor some seventy years earlier, which would carry it back at least to 1850.

    Mary Ann is obviously descended from the old English song, The True Lover's Farewell, which is also the ancestor of The Turtle Dove and Burns' My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose, but this is one of the most unusual of the many variants. The nautical references give it a salty flavour quite appropriate to the Tadoussac region which abounds in tiny fishing villages. However it did not originate in Canada, for almost the same words are given in a book of Victorian Street Ballads edited by W. Henderson and published in London in 1937. Even the lobster and the blue fish, which seem typically Canadian, are found in the English version. The only difference is in the final stanza: instead of longing for a flask of gin, the Victorian ballad concludes:

       The pride of all our kitchen rare
       That in our kitchen garden grows
       Was pumpkins, but none could compare
       In angel form to my Mary Ann.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 01:27 PM

1856
Words, Barney Williams
Music, M Tyte

Sung by Sam Cowell this side of the pond who probably brought it with him when he came back from a long family stay in America. Very popular in its own time.
Lester Levy Collection has 3 copies of the sheet music. I have one copy published this side of the pond. It was very popular with Christy Minstrel troups on this side.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 12:18 PM

Thanks, PHJim, for the versions.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: PHJim
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 12:57 AM

And I Am Bound Away To The Sea MaryAnn

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: meself
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 12:36 AM

There is a version in the Helen Creighton collection, and the song is, I believe, well-known among Nova Scotian folkies of '50s/60s vintage. I would not be surprised if that's where Ian & Sylvia got it.

In the version published by Creighton, the 'ten thousand miles' verse is not. And 'bought', above, is 'but', which seems more natural to me.

Bob Dylan recorded it; probably from Creighton ... ?

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Jason Xion Wang
Date: 20 Oct 14 - 11:53 PM

Mary Ann
As sung by Tom Paxton

Fare thee well, my own true love.
Fare thee well, my dear.
For the ship is a-waiting and the wind blows high
And I am bound away to the sea, Mary Ann.
And I am bound away to the sea, Mary Ann.

Ten thousand miles away from home,
Ten thousand miles or more.
The sea may freeze and the earth may burn
If I never no more return to you, Mary Ann.
If I never no more return to you, Mary Ann.

A lobster boiling in a pot,
Bluefish on a hook.
They're suffering long but it's nothing like
The ache I bear for you, my dear Mary Ann.
The ache I bear for you, my dear Mary Ann.

Oh, had I bought a flask of gin,
Sugar here for two,
And a great big bowl for to mix 'em in.
I'd pour a drink for you, my dear Mary Ann.
I'd pour a drink for you, my dear Mary Ann.

Fare thee well, my own true love.
Fare thee well, my dear.
For the ship is a-waiting and the wind blows high
And I am bound away to the sea, Mary Ann.
And I am bound away to the sea, Mary Ann.

Subject: RE: Mary Ann
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Oct 14 - 09:40 PM

Thomas, might you be able to post the lyrics of "Mary Ann" that Paxton uses?

-Joe-

Subject: Mary Ann
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 20 Oct 14 - 08:26 PM

On the recently reissued first LP by Tom Paxton, the song MARY ANN
is sung - the LP notes credits his source as IAN & SYLVIA (a 1962 Vanguard album).

The KEEFER Folk Index lists multiple recordings and print
sources.
Mary Ann/Anne
Rt - Fare Thee Well - I ; True Lover's Farewell
1.Lloyd, A. L. & Isabel Arete de Ramon y Rivera (eds.) / Folk Songs of the, Oak, Sof (1966), # 23
2.Lomax, Alan / Folk Songs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p145/# 75
3.Luboff, Norman; and Win Stracke (eds.) / Songs of Man, Prentice-Hall, Bk (1966), p116
4.Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Folk Song Abecedary, Bonanza, Bk (1966), p226 (Maryanne)
5.Christensen, Robin. Edwards, Jay; and Robert Kelley / Coffee House Songbook, Oak, Sof (1966), p 13
6.Cramer, Hank. Shantyman, Ferryboat FBD 205, CD (2005), trk# 9
7.Hovington, Edouard. Fowke, Edith and Richard Johnston / Folk Songs of Canada, Waterloo Music, Bk    (1954), p142 [1920]
8.Hovington, Edouard. Fowke, Edith (ed.) / The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs, Penguin, Sof    (1973), p116/#48 [1920]
9.Ian and Sylvia. Ian & Sylvia, Vanguard VSD 2113, LP (1962), trk# A.06
10.James, Karen. Folk Go-Go, Verve/Folkways FV 9011, LP (1965), trk# 2
11.Kingfishers. Nova Scotia Is Our Home, Arc A 679, LP (196?), trk# B.06
12.Seeger, Peggy. American Folk-Blues Train, Castle Music CMETD 648, CD( (2003/1957), trk# 3.03
13.Seeger, Peggy. Seeger, Peggy / Folk Songs of Peggy Seeger, Oak, Sof (1964), p51
14.Tarriers. Tarriers at the "Bitter End", Decca DL 4342/74342, LP (1963), trk# A.02


A 1962 KAREN JAMES album on Folkwasy credits Edith Fowke as her source.

There is an early (1957) PEGGY SEEGER recording, made in the UK listed
by Keefer (reissued on CD). Anyone have information on her source ????
Peggy also performs the song on the WHALER OUT OF NEW BEDFORD Folkways
LP.

The MUDCAT Digital Tradition contains a version credited as "Anglo-American music hall song of the 1850s".

How well known is this song ?? - when and how did it enter the folk-revival repertoire ??

If anyone knows of recordings or print sources not in Keefer, I'd appreciate learning of them.

Thanks!
Best wishes, Thomas.