happy? - May 8

Subject: happy? - May 8
From: Abby Sale
Date: 09 May 05 - 08:56 AM

          'Twas nigh unto Pigwacket on the eight day of May,
          They spied a rebel Indian soon after break of day;
          He on a bank was walking, upon a neck of land,
          Which leads into a pond as we're made to understand.
  
                  "Lovewell's Fight," 
  

Written by Ben Franklin's uncle, Ben Franklin, but passed rapidly into tradition. See The Ballad Index & Mac Leach, The Ballad Book.

The battle between the colonists under Captain John Lovewell and the Indians at Pigwacket (near
Fryeburg, Maine) was actually 5/9/1725. There is good evidence that the facts in the song were
deliberately altered by Parson Symmes as a cover-up. Seems Lovewell and his men were scal-
phunters -- receiving one hundred pounds for each trophy they brought in and had earned 1200
pounds in the previous three months.

Copyright © 2005, Abby Sale - all rights reserved

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: GUEST,Kendall
Date: 09 May 05 - 08:58 AM

Happy birthday to one of Americas greatest presidents, Harry Truman

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: Abby Sale
Date: 09 May 05 - 11:35 AM

I'm wild about Harry, myself. It's so rare to find an honest man in politics.

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 May 05 - 01:18 AM

Ben Franklin (scholar, statesman) also wrote two ballads that were published by his brother. Ben's father discouraged him from writing any more.

I now took a fancy to poetry, and made some little pieces, my brother, thinkig it might turn to account, encouraged me, and put me on compiosoing occasional ballads. One was called "The Lighthouse Tragedy" and contained an account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, with his two daughters; the other was a sailor's song, on the taking of "Teach" (or Blackbeard) the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in the Grub-street-ballad style....

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: Abby Sale
Date: 10 May 05 - 08:28 AM

A shame. Sounds like Ben had the right idea. I wonder if he could sing?

As yet, the Happy File has no trad song or story discussing Blackbeard.

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 May 05 - 03:46 PM

Well Abby, this appears to be a situation that merits repair....come November.

THE DOWNFALL OF PIRACY

(attributed to Benjamin Franklin)

Will you hear of a bloody battle, lately fought upon the seas?
It will make your ears to rattle and your admiration cease:
Have you heard of Teach the rover, and his knavery on the main;
How of gold he was a love, how he loved ill-got gain?

When the act of grace appeared Captain Teach and all his men
Unto Carolina steered, where they us'd him kindly then;
There he marry'd to a lady, and gave her five hundred pound,
But to her he prov'd unsteady, for he soon marched off the ground

And returned, as I tell you, to his robberies as before:
Burning, sinking ships of value, filling them with purple gore.
When he was at Carolina, there the Governor did send
To the Governor of Virgina, that he might assistance lend.

Then the man-of-war's commander, two small sloops he fitted out;
Fifty men he put on board sir, who resolved to stand it out.
The lieutnant he commanded both the sloops and you shall hear
How before he landed he suppress'd them without fear

Valiant Maynard as he sailed soon the pirate did espy;
With his trumpet he then hailed, and to him they did reply:
"Captain Teach is our commander", Maynard said "He is the man
Whom I am resolved to hang sir, let him do the best he can."

Teach replied unto Maynard, "You no quarter here shall see
But be hanged on the main-yard, you and all your company."
Maynard said "I none desire of such knaves as thee and thine."
"None I'll give," Teach then replied; "my boys, give me a glass of wine."

He took the glass and drank damnation unto Maynard and his crew,
To himself and generation, then the glass away he threw.
Brave Maynard was resolv'd to have him, tho' he'd cannons nine or ten;
Teach a broadside quickly gave him, killing sixteen valiant men.

Maynard boarded him and to it they fell with sword and pistol too;
They had courage, and did show it, killing of the pirate's crew.
Teach and Maynard on the quarter fought it out most manfully;
Maynard;s sword did cut him shorter, losing his head he there did die.

Every sailor fought while he, sir, power had to wield his sword,
Not a coward could you see, sir, fear was driven from aboard;
Wounded men on both sides fell, sir, 'twas a doleful sight to see,
Nothing could their courage quell, sir; O they fought couragiously.

When the bloody fight was over we're informed by a letter writ,
Teach's head was made a cover to the jack-staff of the ship;
Thus they sailed to Virginia and when they the story told
How they killed the pirates many, they'd applause from young and old.

..a desperate and bloody sea-fight between Lieutenant Maynard and that notes pirate Captain Teach, commonly call'd by the name of Black-beard; Maynard had fifty men, thirty-five of which were kill'd and wounded in the action; Teach had twenty-one, most of which was kill'd and the rest carried to Virginia in order to take their Tryal.

FROM:http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?s=65fb10257e65996be4ae05158727190a&showtopic=4424

University of California
NEWS RELEASE, 12/02/99

UC Berkeley professor traces birth of infotainment to founding father Benjamin Franklin

By Kathleen Maclay, Public Affairs

"Recognizing 'Downfall' as Franklin's earliest work"

Benjamin Franklin, one of our country's founding fathers, also was the founding father of infotainment, that ever-popular blend of information and entertainment, according to a University of California, Berkeley, journalism professor.

Even as a youngster, Franklin was writing ballads that incorporated details from daily newspaper reports about events such as the pirate Blackbeard's beheading, according to Tom Leonard, associate dean of UC Berkeley's North Gate Graduate School of Journalism. Franklin then would hawk copies of the songs on the streets of Boston.

In a recent issue of "The New England Quarterly," Leonard proves that 13-year-old Franklin wrote and helped his brother James publish a ballad, "The Downfall of Piracy," in 1719. The Franklin brothers later used their newspaper to advertise broadsides - sheets of paper on which was printed a song on a topical subject. The young Franklin's ballad recalls the last day in the life of Captain Edward Teach, a rogue and Romeo commonly known as Blackbeard, the pirate who plundered the Atlantic coast.

Such ballads "are among the earliest indicators of what news would be, who would control it, and how it could support a business," Leonard wrote in the periodical.

FROM: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/12-02-1999.html

Blackbeard's last day on this earth was November 22, 1718. The sight of Blackbeard was enough to make most of his victims surrender without a fight. If they gave up peacefully, he would usually take their valuables, navigational instruments, weapons, and rum before allowing them to sail away. If they resisted, he would often maroon the crews and burn their ship. Blackbeard had captured over 40 ships during his piratical career, and his death virtually represented the end of an era in the history of piracy in the New World.

FROM:http://victorian.fortunecity.com/manet/394/page24d.htm

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: Abby Sale
Date: 10 May 05 - 10:13 PM

Thank you for your contribution to the Happy File.

The standard recompence is herewith dispatched.

Abby

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 11 May 05 - 12:20 AM

MMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Mr. A. Sale what a true delight to have you hang around the ol'DT for over a week. I must admit that the old rec.binaries.zebra.fetish boards have become bored with the ....... It is refreshing to have another "colonist" balancing the scales of musical justice.... on this side of the pond. THANX

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: GUEST
Date: 11 May 05 - 10:57 PM

Judging by this composition, Benjamin's father was wise in stearing young Ben into other occupations.

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 13 May 05 - 12:20 AM

Must agree with the the GUEST - the rhymes are loose and forced

Somthing typical of a 13 year old without trainings.....and s\poor internal rhymne

sword, Not a coward could you see, sir, fear was driven from aboard; Wounded men on both sides fell, sir, 'twas a doleful sight to see, Nothing could their courage quell, sir; O they fought

Sincerely,
Gargoyule

Subject: RE: happy? - May 8
From: Abby Sale
Date: 13 May 05 - 08:18 AM

I'm very interested to see this stuff. I'd never heard that Ben had tried his hand. I (eventually) graduated from a school he started but other than "founded by" signs everywhere, they seemed to pay very little attention to the guy.

Considering his remarkable abilities in so many fields, it's not surprising he tried versifing at one time. Maybe if he'd tried again when he was a bit older...

Still, for the Happy File purposes, it ain't "folk" by any standard we got. I still wish I had a trad song about Mr. Teach. Or the even more successful Maritime pirate, Peter Easton, who is the namesake of one of our best local folkies.

So many Events for which there ain't folksongs and so many folksongs for which there ain't dates. Sigh....