Billy and Johnny- Thornton (ME) 1926 Barry A/Lomax
[From British Ballads From Maine, 1929, notes by Barry follow. This was the version arranged, re-titled and published by Lomax in his book, Folk Songs of North America, 1960. I assume it was picked up by The Kingston Trio, also Burl Ives and others from the Lomax reprint.
See Lomax's "Billy Broke Locks" version at the bottom of this page.
R. Matteson 2015]
JOHN WEBBER
(cf. Child 188)
A. "Billy and Johnny." sent in October, 1926, by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, Southwest Harbor. Mrs. Thornton wrote, "The one about Billy and Johnny I have gathered line by line from my cousins, who remember their parents and grandparents singing it. Mrs. Thornton's contribution has been extended by a few lines in stanza 4, added by Mrs. Fred P. Barker, Brewer, who, like Mrs. Thornton, belongs to the old Carroll stock of Mount Desert, whose song it was. Mrs. Barker also contributed the air as taken down by Mr. C. carter; but later Mr. Herzog took down the air from the singing of Mrs. Thornton and her sister, Mrs. Alice Young.
MS of Mrs. C. Carter, Brewer.
[music]
[music] Recorded by Mr. George Herzog.
1. There were nine to hold the British ranks,
And five to guard the town about,
And two to stand at either hand,
I'd one to let Old Tenor out.
2 And Billy broke locks and Billy broke bolts,
And Billy broke all that he came nigh,
Until he Lame to the dungeon door,
And that he broke right manfullye.
3 There was eighty weight of good Spanish iron
Between his neck-bone and his knee;
But Billy took Johnny up under his arm
And lugged him away right manfullee.
4 They mounted their horses and away they rode,
[And who but they rode gallantly,
Until they came to the riverbank,
And there they were most. . .] [text from Mrs. Fred Barker]
5 And when they came to the river bank,
The swam its waters deep and wide,
. . . .
And safely reached the other side.
6 And then they called for a room to dance,
And who but they danced merrilee;
And the best dancer among them all
Was old John Webb, who was just set free.
"This was sung by my great grandmother, Hannah (Boynton) Lurvey, who came here from Byfield, Mass., about 1800. John Webb was (I think) a mint master in Colonial days and lived in or near Salem. He was unjustly imprisoned by the Government and his friends set him free." so writes Mrs. Thornton. But who John Webb, or Webber, was does not so much matter until we have placed the ballad itself as a derivative of an older song.
The reference to old Tenor suggests that the song was made over from an older ballad about 1740, when there was considerable excitement about the change in Massachusetts currency. This disturbance produced one broadside, "The Death of old Tenor," which brought from the authorities a public advertisement of reward for information about the author and the printer (Ford, 915 and 939). Another early broadside, "The Dying speech of old Tenor" (Ford 912) is reproduced in facsimile in Ford's Massachusetts Broadsides, p. 129. It has nothing in common with our song, which shows old Tenor not dead, but escaping, to a very merry tune. The original ballad was Child's "Archie o' Cawfield," and the parody containing the reference to old tenor proves that this ballad must have been well known in Massachusetts before 1750, perhaps as early as 1787, when New Tenor first came in. Judging by the fragments recovered, the song about John Webber must have been much sung in Massachusetts.
____________________________
Billy Broke Locks- From The folk Songs of North America, in the English language; Alan Lomax - 1960
There were nine to hold the British ranks,
And five to guard the town about,
And two to stand at either hand,
And one to let the Old Tenor out.
CHORUS: Billy broke locks and Billy broke bolts,
And Billy broke all that he came nigh,
Until he came to the dungeon door,
And that he broke right manfully.
There was eighty weight of good Spanish iron
Between his neck-bone and his knee,
But Billy took Johnny up under his arm
And lugged him away right manfully.
CHORUS
They mounted their horses and away did ride.
And who but they rode manfully,
Until they came to the river bank
And there they alighted right manfully.
CHORUS
And then they called for a room to dance,
And who but they danced merrily,
And the best dancer amongst them all
Was old John Webb who was just set free.
CHORUS
Source: The Folk Songs of North America (Alan Lomax, 1960), #4, page 14
taken from page 393 of British Ballads from Maine (Phillips Barry, 1929). As sung by Mrs. S.S. Thornton and Mrs. F.P. Barker of Maine
Note: the Digital Tradition version doesn't sing the chorus until after Billy has been introduced in the second verse. Don't know if the DT is right about that, but it makes sense to me.
Here are the notes from Lomax:
PHILLIPS BARRY believes that, about the year 1700, a new wave of colonists from Britain brought a group of ballads into New England which did not reach the southern states. Among these he cites Captain Kidd, and the Scots Archie o’ Cawfield, upon which the present ballad is based, and whose story runs as follows...
Archie Hall of Liddesdale, one of three reiving (cattle rustling) brothers, lies prisoner in Dumfries jail. Dickie and Jockie Hall ride to his rescue. Jockie, a man of Homeric stature and strength, bursts the iron bolts of the dungeon with a blow, and though the prisoner has ‘fifteen weight of good Spanish iron on his fair bodie,’ picks him up in his arms, observing, ‘I count him lighter than a flea.’ The three brothers make good their escape by swimming their horses across a river that daunts their English pursuers. In the Scots ballad they refer to each other affectionately as ‘billie.' In Scots dialect ‘billie' meant comrade or buddy; thus, in our ballad, ‘Billy' takes the place of 'Jockie.'
Very likely Archie o’ Cawfield was one of the ballads Cotton Mather had in mind when in 1713 he lamented ‘the vogue of the foolish Songs and Ballads which hawkers and pedlars carry into all portions of the Country.' There is no doubt that it served as the model for Billy Broke Locks, composed around 1737, when the colonists of Massachusetts became involved in a currency dispute with the crown.
At that time exchange in the colonies was based upon Spanish coinage, which brought a different price in the various colonial capitals. Parliament attempted to resolve this confusion by several issues of paper money called ‘tenors’; but when the ‘new tenor’ replaced the ‘old tenor,' disturbances broke out in Massachusetts, and two satirical broadsides entitled The Death of Old Tenor and The Dying Speech of Old Tenor were published -- and suppressed. John Webb (or Webber) then mint-master of Salem, Massachusetts, apparently stuck to ‘Old Tenor' and for this offence was sent to prison. When his friends broke into jail and rescued Webb, someone celebrated the event by re-making Archie o’ Cawfield to tell the story of the escape of the man who had stood up for ‘Old Tenor,' and so is identified with ‘Old Tenor’ in the chorus.
Thus the rebellious fire of a sixteenth-century Scots border rant passed into a new song of social conflict, producing what is certainly the best of our early colonial ballads. Billy Broke Locks must have been extremely popular in New England for Barry found five good versions of it, two hundred years after the event.