244. John Hardy


244

John Hardy

Concerning this ballad, its hero, and its relation to the ballad of
'John Henry,' see Cox's study in JAFL xxxii 505-20, his headnote
to it in FSS 175-7, White's notes in ANFS 189-90, and the head-
note to 'John Henry' in this volume. Hardy was executed for mur-
der in McDowell county, West Virginia, in 1894. As an epic figure
of the American Negro he has become confused, or blended, with
another John Henry, also of West Virginia, a steel driver who chal-
lenged the steam drill; several of the texts in FSS show this con-
fusion. The only trace of it in our texts is in the first stanza of A.

 

'John Harty.' Contributed by I. G. Greer of Boone, Watauga county.
The manuscript, in pencil on rough paper, bears the notation : "Written
for Miss Elsie Hagaman by Bonnie Johnson, Feb. 11, IQIS-" For
"agurvating" and "aguvatin" in stanza 5 read "aggravating" ; for "close"
in stanza 6 read "clothes" and for "slept" probably "slipt" ; the failure
to repeat the last line of stanza 7 is no doubt merely an oversight. The
meaning of 'Kasteel band" in stanza 7 I do not know.

1 John Harty came walking down the street one clay
With a nine-pound hammer in his hand.

I thought I heard that boss man say :

'Yonder comes a steel-driving man.

Lord ! Lord ! yonder comes a steel-driving man.'

2 John Harty was a brave and dispert man ;
He carried two guns every day.

He killed him a man in the West Virginia land,
And you ought to have seen Johnny getting away,
Poor boy, and to have seen poor Johnny getting away.

3 John Harty had seventeen miles to go ;
Eight of them he run.

He run until he came to a large river course,

And fell to his breast and swum.

Lord ! Lord ! he fell to his breast and swum.

4 He swum until he came to his mother's arms.
'My boy, what have you done?'

Tve killed me a man in the West Virginia land,

And I know that I have to be hung.

Lord ! Lord ! and I know that I have to be hung.'

 

He asked his mother for one fifty cents.

'My son, I have no change.'

'Then hand me down my old forty-four ;

 

564 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

I'll shoot out my agurvating brains.

Lord ! Lord ! I'll shoot out my aguvating brains.

6 'Oh, hand me down my old gray hat
And my other hoboing close,

And if the police asks you where I'm gone

Just tell him that I slept out the doors,

Lord! Lord ! just tell him that I slept out the door.'

7 John Harty, he joined that Kasteel band,
He thought it would set him free.

But the police took him by the arm,
Says, 'Jo^inny* come and go with me.'

8 He took poor Johnny to the courthouse door,
No one to go him bail.

'Oh, my little boy, I'm sorry for you.

But I'm going to have to lock you up in jail.

Lord! Lord! I'm going to have to lock you up in jail.

 

'John Hardy.' Pencil manscript on coarse tablet paper, endorsed "Ballad
belongs to Mrs. Norma Grindstaff, Spruce Pines." Spruce Pine is in
Mitchell county.

1 John Hardy was standing in the gambling room door.
He was not concerned in the game.

Up stepped his little woman, threw down fifty cents,

Says, 'Count John Hardy in the game.'

Lord, Lord, Lord,^ says, 'Count John Hardy in the game.'

2 John Hardy picked up his fifty cents.
Says, 'Half of this I'll play.

The man that wins my fifty cents,

Shoot him down and leave him lay.

Lord, Lord ! shoot him down and leave him lay.'

3 John Hardy lost his fifty cents;
Was all he had in the game.

He drew a forty-four from his side,

Blowed out that poor negro's brains,

Lord, Lord ! blowed out that poor negro's brains.

4 John Hardy had ten miles to go.
And half of that he run ;

He ran till he came to the broad river bank.

^ This third writing of the exclamation is no doubt a case of dittog-
raphy; see the closing lines of the other stanzas.

 

NATIVE. AMERICAN BALLADS 565

He fell to his breast and swum.

Lord, Lord ! he fell to his breast and swum.

John Hardy was lying on the broad river bank,

As drunk as a man could be.

Up stepped John Gamel and another police.

Says, 'John, come go with me,

John Hardy, come go with me.'-

They took John Hardy to have his trial.

No one would go his bail.

His father and mother was standing liy

When they locked John Hardy up in jail,

Lord, Lord ! when they locked John Hardy up in jail.

John Hardy had but one little girl ;

He kept her dressed in red.

And when she saw her papa through the cold iron bars

Says, 'Mama, I had rather see him dead.'

Lord, Lord! says, 'Mama, I had rather see him dead.'

'Oh, when I die don't bury me at all.

Put me down in a silver gum.

Sing the songs my father used to sing.

With a big brass horn blow on.

Blow on ! with a big brass horn blow on.'

The last time I saw John Hardy's face

He was standing on a scaffold high.

The last word I heard John Hardy say

Was 'I want to go to heaven when I die.'

Lord, Lord ! was *I want to go to heaven when I die.'

 

'John Hardy.' Published by Louise Rand Bascom in JAFL xxii 247 as
heard in Western North Carolina — her texts are not precisely located.

1 John Hardy was a mean an' disperated man,
He carried two guns ever' day,

He shot a man in New Orlean Town,
John Hardy never lied to his gun, poor boy.

2 He's been to the east and he's been to the west,
An' he's been this wide world round.

He's been to the river an' been baptized.

An' he's been on his hangin' grounds, poor boy.

* One expects the initial exclamation in this line as elsewhere at the
end of stanzas. Probably omitted by oversight.

 

566 NORTH CAROLINA Pp L K L R E

3 John Hardy's father was standin' by,
Sayin', 'Joh^ie, what have you done?'

He murdered a man in the same ole town,

You ought to see John Hardy gittin' away, poor boy.

4 John Hardy's mother come weepin' around
Cryin', 'Johnie, what have you done?'
'It's all for the sake of her I love!'

An' they run John Hardy back in jail, poor boy.
 

----
 

 

244
John Hardy

 

'John Hardy.' Sung by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Recorded probably at Tur-
key Creek, Buncombe county, in 1920. The singer told the editor that he had
known this song since 1902, when he heard it at Clinch River, East Tennessee.
The text of the stanza given is a variation of the third stanza of the Sharp
version. Cf. SharpK 11 35, no. 87. Our singer, however, uses the first person
instead of the third.

 

For melodic relationship cf. **OFS 11 144, No. 163 ; *SharpK 11 35. No. 87.

This song furnishes an example for the process of change in the life of a
melody. If we compare this tune with the version given in OFS 11 144, No. 163,
we find much similarity. But in the first phrase of our version the third meas-
ure of the Ozark version is omitted. In the next phrase, similarly, four measures
are omitted. Our song is by no means a replica of the Ozark version, even a
transposed one, but the likeness in spite of the elisions will be evident.
Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abakci (2,2,2,2,2).