Lyr Req: Jacky Rhubarb / Turkey Rhubarb

Subject: Jacky Rubarb
From: Barry Finn
Date: 12 Feb 97 - 11:17 PM

I think this might come out of the mummer's tradition? I have the tune & 1 verse I'm looking for more, can you help. The verse I have is this.

Jacky Rhubarb, Jacky Rhubarb, Jacky Rhubarb I tell.
I come here from Turkey to make you all well.
Don't you well know me for my name it is Dan
And I am a celebrated Jacky Rhubarb man.

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Anne Cormack
Date: 14 Feb 97 - 01:52 AM

Barry, I have this song on "Folk Songs of Olde England Vol 2" by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, but they call it "Turkey Rhubarb". They sing only the words that you have (almost), then repeat it as a catch.

Turkey rhubarb, Turkey Rhubarb, Turkey Rhubarb I sell, I come here from Turkey to make you all well, Don't you all know me, oh me name it is Dan, For I am the celebrated Turkey Rhubarb man.

The CD is produced by Mooncrest Records, Twyman House, 31-39 Camden Road, London NW1 9LF

Both volumes 1 + 2 have some great stuff on them.

Regards, Anne

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Barry
Date: 14 Feb 97 - 01:18 PM

Anne, thanks for the info, I've had this song running around in my head for many years and had gave up on it until I recently got on line, I now can dig further, thanks.

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Barry Finn
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 06:49 PM

Refresh

Barry

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 07:16 PM

"Turkey Rhubarb Man" in the Bodleian collection, Firth b.27(509), no date, no printer data, 19th c.

Will post in a few minutes.

Subject: Lyr. Add: Turkey Rhubarb Man
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 07:36 PM

Lyr. Add: TURKEY RHUBARB MAN

Kind friends, you see before you now,
One of a wretched clan,
Though I could boast not long ago,
Of being a happier man,
But I'm nearly broken-hearted,
For the loss of Mary-Ann.

But she swore she loved me true, and
She called me her "Dear Sammy,"
But now she's gone and left me, oh! deceitful Mary-Ann,
I've got some babes at home,
And they're crying for their mammy,
But she's gone to Abbyssina, with a Turkey Rhubarb Man.

When first this turkey rhubarb man
He came into the town,
The people they would glare at him,
as he went on his rounds, to hear her praise
It drove me crazed I often at her struck,
While she call'd him a good *'liver' & praised him for his pluck.
*lover?
When we were wed, to go to bed
At nine was my delight
But the bed has no attraction now,
And I am distracted quite,
To keep my body warm I must do the best I can,
With a bolster rolled up in my arms instead of Mary-Ann.

Now if I gain your kind applause,
It will my heart relieve,
And for the loss of Mary-Ann no longer will I grieve,
Why for the Turkey Rhubarb Man,
I hope he'll get a bullet from some Abysinian.

Firth b.27(509), no date, no data; 19th c. broadside printed with "The Fisherman's Daughter" and "Ikey Green."
Bodleian Library.
www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/ballads.htm

Sounds like a music hall recitation.

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Trevor
Date: 12 Sep 07 - 06:59 AM

Didn't Jacky Rubarb kill President Kennedy or something?

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Sep 07 - 01:08 PM

Liver is not a misprint for lover. "Liver" and "pluck" are both used here with double meanings. As well as courage, pluck can be "The heart, liver, windpipe, and lungs of a slaughtered animal."

Subject: RE: Jacky Rubarb
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Sep 07 - 09:20 PM

From Wikipedia:

Turkey rhubarb is a plant, Rheum palmatum of the family Polygonaceae, also known as Chinese rhubarb and East Indian rhubarb.[1] Closely related to the garden Rhubarb, Rheum rhaponticum, it has a similar purgative effect upon the human body.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacky Rhubarb / Turkey Rhubarb
From: Flash Company
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 09:58 AM

Q's posting brings to mind an Oz song called 'The Ham Fat Man',
in which 'Darlin Mary Ann', 'Hooked it off to Brisbane with a Chinaman'
Had a chorus

Ham fat, ram fat, candlefat or lard,
Rat fat, cat fat or any other sort,
Get him in the parlour just as quickly as you can,
He's my hoochy coochy, hoochy coochy ham fat man.

Apparently, the Ham fat man sold cooking fat to the men at goldfields, and there was some doubt as to the origin of his product!

FC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacky Rhubarb / Turkey Rhubarb
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 22 - 11:04 AM

The very short song that started this thread is the chorus of a music hall song written and composed by Robert Coombs and featuring in the repertoire of George Leybourne. My notes so far are here:

http://folksongandmusichall.com/index.php/turkey-rhubarb/

Thanks to earlier contributors to this thread for all your hard work!

John at folk music and music Hall