General Farragut- Keeley (MO) 1880 Belden Gb (parody)
[My title. From Belden Ballads and Songs; 1940. One of two versions he gives of the Civil War parody, "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell." The complete ballad is given as printed below.
R. Matteson 2015]
Version G: The collection has two fragmentary texts of a Civil War parody of Lord, Lovel satirizing Mansfield Lovell, the Confederate offficer who failed to defend New Orleans against Farragut in 1862. It was printed in the New Orleans Delta at the time as 'The New Ballad of Lord Lovell.' Cox lists it in FSS 78 but gives no text of it. In TBWV 28, however, he prints a text of two eight-line stanzas from a man in Pennsylvania who learned it in New Orleans. The ballad was parodied also to satirize Lincoln; see TBV 258-9.
(b) Communicated in 1931 by Mrs. Mary Paxton Keeley as sung by her uncle, C. A. Young of Kansas City, who heard it in Philadelphia not long after the Civil War. Mrs. Keeley did not remember all of it. The punning allusion to Admiral Porter's mortar fleet is apparent.
General Farragut . . .
He sat in the St. Charles Hotel
. . .
(News of the surrender comes)
'I loved. the drinks of St. Charles Hotel,
But I never could bear strong porter,
Especially served. up in a shell
And mixed in an iron mortar.'
'I rather think not,' Sir Farragut said,
'I rather think not,' said he;
'For if my porter would fly at your head
A terrible smash that would be.'
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THE NEW BALLAD OF LORD LOVELL.*
LORD LOVELL he sat in St. Charles's Hotel,
In St. Charles's Hotel sat he,
As fine a case of a Southern swell
As ever you'd wish to see — see — see,
As ever you 'd wish to see.
Lord Lovell the town had vowed to defend;
A-waving his sword on high,
He swore that his last ounce of powder he 'd spend,
And in the last ditch he 'd die.
He. swore by black and he swore by blue,
He swore by the stars and bars,
That never he 'd fly from a Yankee crew
While he was a son of Mars.
He had fifty thousand gallant men,
Fifty thousand men had he,
Who had all sworn with him that they 'd never
Surrender to any tarnation Yankee.
He had forts that no Yankee alive could take;
He had iron-clad boats a score,
And batteries all around the Lake,
And along the river-shore.
Sir Farragut came with a mighty fleet,
With a mighty fleet came he,
And Lord Lovell instanter began to retreat,
Before the first boat he could see.
His fifty thousand gallant men,
Dwindled down to thousands six:
They heard a distant cannon and then
Commenced a-cutting their sticks.
"Oh! tarry, Lord Lovell! " Sir Farragut cried,
"Oh! tarry Lord Lovell!" said he;
"I rather think not," Lord Lovell replied,
"For I'm in a great hurry."
"I like the drinks at St. Charles's Hotel,
But I never could bear strong Porter,
Especially when it's served on the shell,
Or mixed in an iron mortar."
"I reckon you 're right," Sir Farragut said,
"I reckon you 're right," said he,
"For if my Porter should fly to your head,
A terrible smash there 'd be."
Oh 1 a wonder it was to see them run,
A wonderful thing to see,
And the Yankees sailed up without shooting a gun,
And captured their great citie.
Lord Lovell kept running all day and night,
Lord Lovell a-running kept he,
For he swore he couldn't abide the sight
Of the gun of a live Yankee.
When Lord Lovell's life was brought to a close
By a sharp-shooting Yankee gunner,
From his head there sprouted a red, red nose,
From his feet — a Scarlet Runner.
* Mansfield Lovell, who commanded the Rebel troops at New Orleans, and who, on the approach of the national fleet and army to that place, " led his forces out of the town."