Origins: Jenny Jenkins

Subject: Lyr Add: JANE JENKINS
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 10:42 AM

The other DT file, JENNIE JENKINS, is quoted from a book called A Treasury of Folk Songs (Sylvia and John Kolb); no tune is given or traditional source named. Checking the first line through the Roud Folk Song Index suggests that this version is the one noted by John and Alan Lomax from Mr. & Mrs. E.C. Ball of Rugby, Virginia, in 1937. A tune in ABC notation was given for it in this thread:

Tune Add: Please Post Tunes Here (scroll down a bit to find it) but no source was named so I don't know if it's really the right tune for the text. Nevertheless, here is a midi made from it:

Jennie Jenkins (midi) (original source unknown).

Since the Green Mountain Songster text has come up again, I'll post it as it originally appeared:

JANE JENKINS

(From The Green Mountain Songster, 1823: compiled by "an old Revolutionary Soldier of Sandgate, Vermont".)

Will you wear grey, Onere, Onere?
Will you wear grey, Jane Jenkins?
No, I won't wear grey for its colour of the clay,
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise.

Will you wear black, Onere, will you wear black, Onere?
I won't wear black, for the colour it is slack,
So buy me the tallawalawise, so buy me the tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear,
Where are the robes that you wear, Jane Jenkins.

Will you wear red, Onere, will you wear red, Onere?
l will not wear red for the colour I do dread,
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear green, Onere, will you wear green, Onere?
I won't wear green for it's the colour that is mean;
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear white, Onere, will you wear white, Onere?
Will you wear white, Jennie Jenkins
O no I won't wear the white 'tis a colour I dislike,
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear yellow, Onere, will you wear yellow, Onere?
Will you wear yellow, Jennie Jerkins
So buy me my tallawalawise, so buy me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

Will you wear blue, Onere, will you wear blue, Onere?
Will you wear blue, Jennie Jenkins
O yes, I'll wear blue for the colour of it's true,
So you've bought me mmy tallawalawise, so you've bought me my tallawalawise,
So double rose Dillevally, Sukey, Dicky, white bands appear.

As quoted in Vermont Folksongs and Ballads (Helen Hartness Flanders and Alice Brown, 1931). Original spellings retained. No tune was printed.

Roud Folk Song Index number 731.

Subject: Origins: Jenny Jenkins
From: masato sakurai
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 09:13 AM

The Traditional Ballad Index: Jenny Jenkins:

Jenny Jenkins

DESCRIPTION: The young man/men try to invite Jenny to the dance by asking her what color she will wear: "Will you wear the (red), O ne'er, o ne'er, o, Will you wear the red, Jenny Jenkins?" She objects to most colors, but at last may agree to one of them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1823
KEYWORDS: dancing questions courting rejection clothes colors
FOUND IN: US(Ap,NE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 453, "I'll Never Wear the Red Any More" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 15, "Jennie Jenkins" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 65, "Will You Wear Red?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 48-49, "Jenny Jenkins" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 11, "Jenny Jenkins" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 346, "Jenny Jenkins" (1 text)
DT, JJENKINS JJENKIN2
RECORDINGS:
E. C. & Orna Ball, "Jennie Jenkins" (AAFS 8)
Mr & Mrs. Estil C. Ball, "Jennie Jenkins" (AFS, 1941; on LC02)
Warde Ford, "Jinnie Jenkins" (AFS 4198 B4, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Jennie Jenkins" (on NLCR10)
Margaret MacArthur, "Jenny Jenkins" (on MMacArthur01)
Notes: Often used as a courting game. The boy will ask the girl if she will wear a particular color. She is required to answer in rhyme (e.g. "Will you wear the blue... No, I won't wear the blue, for the color isn't true"). If she fails, she must kiss the boy or, perhaps, go to the dance with him.
This has been known to produce some rather strange rhymes -- "I won't wear purple; it's the color of a turtle"; "Orange I won't wear -- and it rhymes, so there!" "Oh, what do you care If I just go bare?" - RBW
File: R453

---

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2002 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. .................................................

Recordings:

Jenny Jenkins
Composer(s)
Traditional

Jerry Garcia:
Not For Kids Only, Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, 1993
What Will You Wear, Jenny Jenkins, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Bruce Whatley, 2000
Grateful Dawg Soundtrack, David Grisman / Jerry Garcia / Various Artists, 2001

Others:
E. C. and Orna Ball, ('Field recordings')193?
The Solitary Singer, Terry Gilkyson, 1950
Smokey Mountain Ballads, Bascam Lamar Lunsford, 1953
Traditional American Love Songs, Various Artists (Milt Okun and Ellen Stekert), 1956
Susan Reed Sings Old Airs, Susan Reed, 1957
Old Timey Songs for Children, New Lost City Ramblers, 1959
How The West Was Won, Bing Crosby (w/ Rosemary Clooney on Jennie Jenkins), 1959
Anglo-American Shanties, Lyric Songs, Dance Tunes and Spirituals, Various Artists (E. C. and Orna Ball) , 195?
Blue Ridge Mountain Music, Various Artists, 1960
Folksongs of Vermont, Various Artists (Margaret MacArthur), 1963
Courting and Riddle Songs, Jean Ritchie and Oscar Brand, 196?
Hard Times in the Country, Scott and Stanley, 1974
Folk Music in America, Vol.13, Songs of Childhood, Various Artists (George and Ethel McCoy), 1978
Barnyard Dance, Peter Feldmann, 1980
I Kind of Believe It's A Gift, Street Butler, 198?
Fish That's A Song, Various Artists (New Lost City Ramblers), 1991
Great Big Hits, Sharon, Lois, Bram, 1992
Sounds of the South, Various Artists (E. C. and Orna Ball), 1993
Friends, Two Of A Kind, 1994
High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina Collected by John Cohen in November of 1965, Various Artists (E. C. and Orna Ball), 1995
Marianne, The Easy Riders, 1995
Songs from the Big Front Porch...A Celebration of American Folk Music, Bridget Ball and Christopher Shaw, 1996
E. C. Ball, E. C. Ball, 1997
Definitive Transatlantic Collection, Hamish Imlach, 1997
Through The Years, 1937-1975, E. C. and Orna Ball, 1998 Roll Along, Chris Molla, 1999 Fish That's A Song, Various Artists (New Lost City Ramblers), 19??
Ain't It Great To Be Crazy, Various Artists, 19??
Sing It Yourself!, Laura Boosinger, 19??
Jenny Jenkins (Karaoke), Various Artists, 19??
Colonial & Revolution Songs Disc 1, Keith & Rusty McNeil, 19??
Wee Sing Fun 'N' Folk (Book/CD), Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp, 19??
Many A Wonderful Moment, Rosemary Clooney, 2000

Notes:
Occurs as Jenny Jenkins and Jennie Jenkins.
This song is discussed in Southern Mountain Folksongs, W. K. McNeil, 1993. It is thought that the song derives from the game-song Miss Jennia Jones. The earliest recorded version is a text titled Jane Jenkins printed in the Green Mountain Songster in 1823. It's thought that the song was popular during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

(From: THIS PAGE)

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jenny Jenkins
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 08:02 AM

A song often found in tradition in America, so there are a lot of different versions. The DT text, JENNY JENKINS, was taken from a record by Margaret MacArthur, and is a collation of two variants in Vermont Folksongs and Ballads (Helen Hartness Flanders and Alice Brown, 1931) rather than a traditional set in its own right. The tune and one verse were recorded by Mrs. Alice Brown, July 24, 1930, in Bethel, Vermont, from the singing of Mrs. Susan Chase; to this, Margaret MacArthur has added the bulk of the other text given, reprinted fron The Green Mountain Songster (1823), using Mrs. Chase's interleaved refrain rather than the older one, which is quite different. The DT doesn't give the tune, but I've made a midi from notation in the book for future inclusion; here is a temporary link to it:

Jenny Jenkins (midi): Mrs. Chase's tune.

A recording made by Sidney Robertson Cowell of Warde Ford in Central Valley, California in 1938 can be found at California Gold: (Library of Congress). I can provide a link to a transcription of the text

Jinnie Jenkins

but it isn't cross-referenced to the audio recording, and so the following link is to a temporary file which will probably expire very quickly. You may have to go to the main page (1st. link above) and browse through the tune titles until you find it. How annoying. Jinnie Jenkins (audio: perhaps)

Here is a short set from North Carolina (1918):

WILL YOU WEAR RED?

(Noted by Cecil Sharp from Mrs. Delie Hughes at Cane River, Burnsville, N.C., in 1918)

O my love, will you wear red?
Will you wear red, Gilly Jenkin?
I won't wear red, for it's the colour of my head.
I'll buy me a dillow, wear a double over dill,
I'll buy me a dillow, wear a daisy.

From English Folk-Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1932. Until it reaches the Mudcat Midi Pages, a midi made from the notation in that book can be heard via the South Riding Folk Network site:

Will You Wear Red? (midi)

Subject: Lyr Add: JENNY JENKINS
From: masato sakurai
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 06:57 AM

Four versions.

(1) Jennie Jenkins
Written By: Unknown
Copyright Unknown

Will you wear white, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear white, Jennie Jenkins?
No, I won't wear white for the color's too bright
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a, roll-a-find-me
Roll, Jennie Jenkins, roll.

Will you wear blue, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear blue, Jennie Jenkins?
No, I won't wear blue 'cause blue won't do
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a, roll-a-find-me
Roll, Jennie Jenkins, roll.

Will you wear red, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear red, Jennie Jenkins?
No, I won't wear red, it's the color of my head
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a, roll-a-find-me
Roll, Jennie Jenkins, roll.

Will you wear pink, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear pink, Jennie Jenkins?
No, I won't wear pink, I'd rather drink ink
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a, roll-a-find-me
Roll, Jennie Jenkins, roll.

Will you wear green, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear green, Jennie Jenkins?
No, I won't wear green, it's the color of a bean
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a, roll-a-find-me
Roll, Jennie Jenkins, roll.

Will you wear rose, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear rose, Jennie Jenkins?
No, I won't wear rose, it's the color of my nose
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a, roll-a-find-me
Roll, Jennie Jenkins, roll.

(SOURCE: KIDiddles: Song Lyrics)

(2) Jennie JenKins
Will you wear red?
Oh my dear,
Oh my dear.
Will you wear red Jennie JenKins?
I won't wear red,
It's the color of my head.
I'll buy me a fol-di-rol-di till-di-tol-di
Seek a double roll
Jennie JenKins Roll.
Red ..............It's the color of my head
Blue..............'Cause the color's too true
Yellow...........It's the color of a fellow
Green............Isn't fit to be seen
Black............ It's the color of my back
Pink...............It's the color of a stink
Orange.......... It's the color of an orange
White............ For the color's too bright
Grey..............It's the color of a whale
Stripes........….pipes
Flowers........….Dowers
Dots........... ….spots

(SOURCE: AAADA)

(3) JENNY JENKINS
(traditional / Public Domain)

Oh, will you wear blue, oh my dear, oh my dear?
Will you wear blue, Jenny Jenkins?
"No, I won't wear blue, 'cause it wouldn't match my shoe
I'll buy me a
folly-rolly-tilly-tolly-seek-a-double-use-a-cause-a-roll-a-fie-me"
Roll, Jenny Jenkins, roll!

[For additional verses, substitute other colors and rhyming phrases for the underlined words]

(Final Verse:)
So, what will you wear, oh my dear, oh my dear?
What will you wear, Jenny Jenkins?
"I'll just go bare, with a ribbon in my hair!
I'll buy me a
folly-rolly-tilly-tolly-seek-a-double-use-a-cause-a-roll-a-fie-me"
Roll, Jenny Jenkins, roll!

[Smart-alec kid: "But what color ribbon will you wear?"]

(SOURCE: Lyrics - Friends)

(4) Jenny Jenkins
Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

Will you wear white
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear white, Jenny Jenkins?
No I won't wear white
For the color's too bright

Chorus:
I'll buy me a foldy-roldy, tildy-toldy
Seek-a-double, use-a-cozza roll to find me
Roll, Jenny Jenkins, roll

Will you wear green
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear green, Jenny Jenkins?
No, I won't wear green
It's a shame to be seen

[chorus]

Will you wear blue
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear blue, Jenny Jenkins?
No, I won't wear blue
For the color's too true

[chorus]

Will you wear yellow
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear yellow, Jenny Jenkins?
No, I won't wear yellow
For I'd never get a fellow

[chorus]

Will you wear brown
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear brown, Jenny Jenkins?
No, I won't wear brown
For I'd never get around

[chorus]

Will you wear beige
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear beige, Jenny Jenkins?
No, I won't wear beige
For it shows my age

[chorus]

Will you wear orange
Oh my dear, oh my dear
Will you wear orange, Jenny Jenkins?
No, orange I won't wear
And it rhymes so there

[chorus]

What will you wear?
Oh my dear, oh my dear
What will you wear, Jenny Jenkins?
Oh what do you care
If I just go bare

[chorus]

(SOURCE: Greatful Dead Lyric and Song Finder)

~Masato

Subject: Lyr Add: JENNY JENKINS
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 06:20 AM

DT link here.

The kid's version I teach and enjoy is:

Oh, will you wear white, oh my dear, oh my dear,
Will you wear white, Jenny Jenkins?
I won't wear white, 'cause the color's too bright;
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-de-seek-a-double-roll,
Jenny Jenkins roll

Oh, will you wear (blue)(Insert color preference here)
Oh my dear, oh my dear,
Will you wear blue, Jenny Jenkins?
I won't wear blue, it's the color of my shoe OR It makes me untrue OR it looks like you (Insert rhyme here)
I'll buy me a fol-de-roll-de etc.

Make up several more verses along these lines.
Several verses later...
Oh, what will you wear, oh my dear, oh my dear
What will you wear, Jenny Jenkins?
(Dramatic pause) I've nothing to wear...
So I'll just go BARE!!!!(Pause for hysterical giggles
I'll buy me...

I know there's an ending that goes:
I'll buy me a fol-de-rol-de-seek-a-double-roll to find me

But there's something about the way this one scans that just works best for me!

Subject: Jenny Jenkins
From: GUEST,Lesley Cheetham
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 04:15 AM

Does anyone have any versions of this song (tune too would be appreciated)? There is one version on the data base but it is not quite the same as the one I heard on a tape of children's folk songs some years ago from some friends in Seattle (tape long since lost unfortunately).

Lesley