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I Love Little Willie/ Campbells Are Coming, The
Traditional Scottish (originally), American; Jig, March and Air (6/8 time). USA; Arkansas, New York, Southwestern Pa.
ARTIST: Brown Collection
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
DATE: Campbells melody (Scotland) Early 1700’s; Lyrics to "I Love Little Willie" are found in 1922 (Brown); certainly this dates back to the 1800s.
RECORDING INFO: I Love Little Willie
Boles, Emma. National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Folk Music Festival. 1965, Century, LP (1965), trk# 18
Carlisle, Irene. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p100/#382C [1942/02/12]
Dusenberry, Emma L.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 99/#382B [1929/11/13] (He Wears a White
Henry, Melinger
Goether, Louis. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 98/#382A [1933/03/16]
Gunning, Sarah Ogan. Silver Dagger, Rounder 0051, LP (1976), trk# 3
Lomax, Bess B.. Lomax, J. A. & A. Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p327 [1920s]
Simmons Family. Simmons, Tommy (ed.) / Simmons Family, Simmons, Sof (1974), p28
Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy. Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy / Favorite Mountain Ballads & Old T..., Sizemore, fol (1932), p40
Song Spinners. Johnson, Margaret & Travis (eds) / Early American Songs from ... the Spi, AMP, Fol (1943), #32
PRINT SOURCES- I Love Little Willie:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
BrownIII 307, "I Love Little Willie, I Do, Mamma" (1 text plus 1 fragment, 4 excerpts, and mention of 3 more)
Randolph 382, "I Love Little Willie" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 23, "I Love Little Willie" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 327, "I Love Little Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3538
RECORDING INFO Campbells Are Coming: George, Franklin/Frank. Swope's Knobs, Anachronistic 001, LP (1977), cut#4.10b; Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Bay TPH-727, LP (1973), cut#A.03a; Breathnach (1977) and O'Neill (in his introduction to The Dance Music of Ireland) both point out that "The Campbells Are Coming" is the same air as "Miss McLeod" only played in jig time. Tyson (Twenty-Five Old Fashioned Dance Tunes), No. 10. Gennett 6121 (78 RPM), Uncle Steve Hubbard and His Boys, c. 1928. Victor 20537 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham (appears as last tune of the improbably named "Medley of Reels").
OTHER NAMES Campbells: "I Was at a Wedding in Inverara Town;" "Campbell's Frolic," “The Baldooser;” "Burdened Old Man;" “Burnt Old Man;” "Sean Duine Dóite;" "Georgie, the Dotard," "O Tommy Come Tickle Me" (Pa.), "The Old Man," "An Seanduine." "Hob or Nob."
OTHER NAMES I Love Willie: I Love My Union (Greenway-AFP, p. 128)
SOURCES: Floyd Woodhull, 1976 (New York State) [Bronner]; Amasiah Thomas (Jefferson County, Pa., 1952) [Bayard]; Irvin Yaugher (Fayette County, Pa., 1946) [Bayard]; Hiram White (elderly fiddler from Greene County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]; piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 539A-C, pgs. 478-480. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 15, pg. 78. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 81, pg. 160. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 110. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 15. Harding's All Round Collection, 1905; No. 189, pg. 60. Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p110a; Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p315; Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 17. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum), 1790; No. 299. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 16, pg. 32. Mitchell (Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 90, pg. 80. O'Malley and Atwood (Seventy Good Dances), pg. 11. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 18; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES Campbells Are Coming: "G Major (Ford, Gow, Harding, Kerr, Mitchell, Sweet): F Major (Emmerson). Standard. One part (Ford): AB (Emmerson): AA'B (Gow, Mitchell): ABB (Harding): AABB (Kerr, Sweet). The melody is punctated like a Scotch Measure in jig time--tunes like this are classified by Oswald and others as "Scotch Jigs." Grattan-Flood, typically and without much evidence, claims the tune is Irish. Another claim is that the tune was composed for a song on or about the period of Mary Queen of Scots' imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle. "The Campbells are Coming" was known as a Whig tune and as such was played by the vanguard of the loyalist Scottish troops, many Clan Campbell, as they marched in opposition to the ill-fated Jacobite rebels of 1715 led by the Earl of Mar (knicknamed 'Bobbing John') [Winstock, 1970]. The Robert Wodrow Correspondence records that in 1716 each of three companies of Argyle's Highlanders entered Perth and Dundee led by a piper playing "The Campbells are Coming," "Wilt thou play me fiar play, Highland Laddie," and "Stay and take the breiks with thee."{see also notes for those tunes}. James J. Fuld in The Book of World Famous Music (1966) notes the tune was mentioned in a letter (probably the one by the aforementioned Wodrow) dated 1716, although it was not printed until 1745 when it appeared in a Scottish collection. Despite mention of the existance of a melody by that name early in the 18th century, Glen (1891) finds the first printed version of the melody not to have been until Robert Bremner's 1757 collection Scots Reels (pg. 83), although it also is said to appear in James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion (c. 1750). Another printing with the "Campbell" title appears somewhat later in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript from Perth. Further to the south in Britain, the title was included in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian songs and tunes, which he published c. 1800." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
"The melody is to be found as a country dance called "Hob or Nob" in collections earlier than Bremner. It can be found, for example, in Walsh's Caledonian County Dances (4th book) of c. 1745, in Johnson's Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances (1748), and other contemporary dance books." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
"The Campbells are Coming" was transplanted to American country dance tradition and appears in repertories of dance fiddlers in New York and Pennsylvania (Harry Daddario, Union County, Pa.). Musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph recorded the tune for the Library of Congress from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. Samuel Bayard (1981) also collected the tune from Pennsylvania fiddlers. He notes that the cadences of the 'A' parts are different in modern versions from those in the 18th and 19th century where the tune ended on the major third. He sees the American versions, which end on the tonic, as a "rebellion" against the 'circular' or 'endless' tunes from the British Isles. The cognates of the tune family that "The Campbells Are Coming" belongs to include "The Baldooser," "The Burnt Old Man" and "The Field of Hay," but more importantly Bayard speculates that the popular dance tunes "Miss McLeod's Reel" and "The White Cockade" also derive from the same source. Other writers have also noted the connection with "Miss McLeod's Reel." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
NOTES- I Love Little Willie: After glacing at the music I recognized the melody of the popular Appalachian song "I Love Little Willie" as being the melody of "The Campbells are coming. Surprisingly this is not well-known (not mentioned in Kuntz, for example) and I found only one source corroborating this info:
"The latter two cases involve a tune used by adults: "The Pig In the Parlour" has the same tune as "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (or "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" or "Malbrough S'En Va-t'en Guerre"); the tune of "I Love Little Willie" is the same as that for "The Campbells Are Coming." [Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1981)Stereotype Forms in English-Canadian Children's Songs: Historical and Pedagogical Aspects by Jay Rahn]
Typical lyrics include: "I love Little Willie, I do, mama, I love Little Willie, But don't you tell Pa! For he wouldn't like it, you know, mama." Similarly: "He wrote me a letter," "He gave me a ring," "And now we are married," "We fuss and we scratch."
The was first collected by Brown in 1922 but I suspect it goes back to the 1800s.
I LOVE LITTLE WILLIE- Brown Collection
307 I Love Little Willie, I Do, Mamma
This little ditty is something- of a favorite in North Carolina, as the number of texts in our collection shows. It is reported as folk song also from Virginia ( F.SV 196-7). Tennessee (FSSH 282-3), North Carolina (FS.SH 281-2. SHF 10- 1. JAFL xlv 43-4).
Georgia (SSSA 23). Texas (PFLST vi 227), and Arkansas (OFS iv 98-100), and is included in ABFS and in Miss Pound's syllabus. Closely allied but not identical with it is 'I Love Somebody,' reported' from Kentucky (ASb 140-4) and Tennessee (JAFL xxviii
183). The texts for the most part follow the same pattern, so that it will not be necessary to give them all in extenso.
A. 'Billy Boy.' Secured by Gertrude Allen (before she became Mrs. Vaught) from a pupil of hers. Pansy Jordan, in the school at Oakboro, Stanly county. The series in this is "I love little Willie." "He carried my school books." "He gave me a ring," "We are going to git married," "He's gone for the license," and "We are already married."
B. I Love Little Willie.' This too is from Miss Allen, now from Alexander county — sent in apparently about 1928-29.
1. I love little Willie, I do, dear ma,
I love little Willie, ha ha, ha ha,
I love little Willie but don't you tell papa,
For he won't like it, you know, dear ma.
2. He carried my school books, he did, dear ma,
He carried my school books, ha ha, ha ha.
He carried my school books but don't you tell papa,
For he won't like it, you know, dear ma.
3 He asked me to marry him. he did. dear ma.
He asked me to marry him, ha ha, ha ha.
He asked me to marry him but don't you tell papa,
For he won't like it, you know, dear ma.
4 He's gone for the license, he has, dear ma.
He's gone for the license, ha ha, ha ha,
He's gone for the license but don't you tell papa.
For he won't like it, you know, dear ma.
5 We're already married, we are, dear ma,
We're already married, ha ha, ha ha.
We're already married but don't you tell papa,
For he won't like it, you know, dear ma.
C. 'Don't Tell Pa.' From the Misses Holeman. Durham. 1922. Four stanzas. The series runs "I have a new sweetheart," "He told me he loved me." "'I'm engaged to be married." "And now I am married" ; and the refrain line at the end of tlie stanzas is "For you Know I can't help it; now can I, Mamma?" up to the last stanza, which ends:
And now I am married, and you can tell Pa,
For you know lie can't help it, now can he, Mama?
D. 'Don't Tell Pa.' From Miss Florence Hilton, Durham, in 1922. The series runs "I love little Willie." "He sent me a letter." 'And now we are engaged," "At last we're married." and the final stanza runs:
You can come home to see us, ha, ha, ha, ha.
You can come to see us, you can, mama.
You can come to see us, but don't you bring pa.
'Cause he might grumble, you know. mama.
E. 'Sweet Willie,' or 'Don't Tell Papa.' From Carl C. Knox, Durham, student at Trinity College, 1922-24. The opening stanza only, with the air.
F. 'I Love Little Willie.' from Lucille Cheek, Latham County, in I923- Opening stanza only.
G. No title. Contributed by Miss Annie Hanikn, but without any indication of time or place. Five stanzas, witli tlie series "I love little Willie," "He wrote me a letter," "He gave me an orange." and "We are going to get married," and ending:
You must come to see us, you must, mama.
Vou must come to see us, you must, mama,
You must come to see us, and you must bring pa,
Or he won't let }'oti, you know, mama.
H. "Don't Tell Pa.' From the manuscript of Obadiah Johnson of Crossnore, Avery county. The series is "I love little Willie," "He gave me a ring," "He ask me to marry." "He's gone for the license," "The preacher is coming," "And now we are married"; and it closes
and you can tell pa,
For he can't help it, you know, my ma.
I. 'I've got a New Sweetheart.' Copied out by Dr. White from a manuscript notebook lent to him in 1943 by Mrs. Harold Hasscock of Durham, who learned the songs in the book from her parents, and can sing most of them. The text is fragmentary, and seems — in the first stanza at least — to require a different rhythm from the others.
1 I've got a new sweetheart.
He told me he loved me.
He gave me a gold ring.
We're going to be married.
2 I'm going to be married, ha ha, mama,
I'm going to be married, but don't you tell pa,
For how can I help it, how can I, mama?
3 He gave me a gold ring, ho ho, mama.
He gave me a gold ring, ha ha, mama.
He gave me a gold ring, but don't you tell pa,
For how could I help it, how could I, mama?
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