181
Johnny Sands
For the currency of this bit of domestic satire on both sides of
the water and in print as well as in tradition, see BSM 237 and
add to the references there given Virginia (FSV 165), Florida
(FSF 368-70), Missouri (OFS iv 246-7), Ohio (BSO 89-90),
Indiana (BSI 262-3), and Illinois (JAFL lx 204). It is listed also
OLDER BALLADS — MOSTLY BRITISH 449
as found in Michigan (BSSM 480), but the text is not given. The
texts do not vary greatly from place to place, probably because
they all derive by no great number of stages from print. Accord-
ingly not all the North Carolina texts are given in full.
•Johnny Vands.' Submitted by Mrs. Donald MacRea in 1917 as given
her by Betty Coffey of Avery county.
1 Johnny Vands he married a wife,
Whose name was Becky Hays.
Altho she was a scolding wife
She brought him house and lands.
2 One day said he, 'I tire of life.'
Said she. 'I tire of you.'
'I'll drown myself at Carts,' said he.
'I'll help you all I can,' said she.
3 Then hand in hand they went
Down by the water side.
'Twas his intent to drown himself,
It cannot I)€ denied.
4 'So tie my hands behind my back.
Be sure I cannot swim.'
She tied his hands behind his back,
And 'twas securely done.
'Stand you here upon the bank
While I prepare to run.'
5 She came running down the hill
With all her force to push him in.
He stepped aside
And she went in, of course.
6 All in the deep he heard her say
*Oh help me out, my sugar Jack.'
'I can't,' said he, 'for you have tied
My hands behind my back.'
'Johnny Sands.' A clipping supplied by Professor White from the Neio
York Times Book Revieiv for October 3, 1920, with the notation : 'This
text is exactly as I learned it long ago from a book." Four eight-line
stanzas, with the tune. The actors here are Johnny Sands and Betty
Hague.
C
'Johnny Sands.' From Miss Mary Morrow of Greensboro, Guilford
county, in 1928. Six stanzas. The wife's name here is Betty Spray.
The last stanza has a touch of the picturesque:
450 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
Then splashing, dashing, Hke a fish,
*0, save me, Johnny Sands !'
*I can't, my dear, though much I wish,
For you have tied my hands.'
When Professor White made a record of this he used, he says, a
slightly different text in that the last line of each stanza is three times
repeated.
•Johnny Sams.' From James York of Iredell county, 1939. Seven
stanzas, of which the last is Johnny's jeer:
'Float on, float on, my tender bride,
Away to some foreign land;
And when you get to the land of rest
Please write for Johnny Sams.'
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181
Johnny Sands
'Johnny Sands.' Sung by Professor N. I. White. Recorded probably at Dur-
ham, but no date given. Malcolm Laws, Jr., includes this among a number of
other songs many of which have been traced to British broadsides.
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSF 368, No. 197 A, the melodic line of the
stanza with the exception of the first cadence. The refrain also is different.
Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abab^c (4,4,4,4,4);
c is partly related to b^.