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Sober Joe/ Johnny Fool
Old-Time Breakdown
ARTIST: From Max Hunter-Cat. #1450 (MFH #964) - As sung by Orville McInturff, Marshall, Arkansas on August 22, 1972
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1609 (Deuteromelia; registered as a ballad 1588)
RECORDING INFO: Martha Hall, "Kitty Alone" (on MMOK, MMOKCD); Feldmann, Peter. Barnyard Dance, Hen Cackle HC 501, LP (1980), cut#A.05 (Fubba Wubba John); Mitchell, Howie. Howie Mitchell, Folk Legacy FSI-005, LP (1962), cut#B.01 (Kitty Alone); Seeger, Mike. Music From the True Vine, Mercury SRMI-627, LP (1972), cut# 8
OTHER NAMES: “Who's the Fool Now?” “Old Blind Drunk John;” “Fooba-Wooba John;” “We're A' Jolly Fu';” “Sober Joe”
SOURCES: Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 1, 1859; pg. 140. Kines (Songs From Shakespeare's Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare's Time), 1964; pg. 91; Kinloch-BBook XIV, pp. 50-54, "The Man in the Moon" (1 text); Randolph 445, "Johnny Fool" (2 texts); Wyman-Brockway I, p. 22, "The Bed-time Song" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSNA 136, "Hurrah, Lie!" (1 text, 1 tune);
NOTES: Based originally on the English, Air (3/4 time) “Martin Said to His Man,” Johnny Fool is part of the Who's the Fool Now?/Old Blind Drunk John/Fooba-Wooba John group of songs. A number of songs are put into the pile with "Martin Said to His Man," in which animals perform unlikely activities. Included are Kitty Alone, Johnny Fool, Hurrah, Lie!, The Bed-time Song, Who's the Fool Now?, Old Blind Drunk John, and Fooba-Wooba John. The earliest date is 1609 for "Martin Said To His Man" (but registered in 1588).
MARTIN AND HIS MAN: C Major. Standard. One part. Chappell (1859) reports the song appears with its music as one of the Freeman's songs to three voices in Deuteromelia (1609) and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Regarding those songs, in the life of Sir Peter Carew by John Vowell, he says "For the King himself (Henry VIII) being much delighted to sing, and Sir Peter Carew having a pleasant voice, the King would often use him to sing with him certain songs they call 'Freeman's Song's.'" Registered as a ballad with the Stationers' Company in 1588, it seems a satire on the tellers of marvelous tales, much in the vein (says Kines) of such traditional songs of exaggeration such as "Tom-a-lyn," "Paddy Backwards," "The Darby Ram," "Amhran na mBreag," and "I was born 1000 years ago." A much later derivative of "Martin Said to his Man" was written by William Courtright, published in 1877 and called "Flewy, Flewy."
Martin said to his man, fie, man, fie
Martin said to his man, who's the fool now?
Martin said to his man, fill thou the cup and I the can,
Who hast well drunken man, who's the fool now?
In "Johnny Fool" the singer sees various animals performing various activities, some of which are impossible or unlikely (E.g. "Saw a crow flying low"; "Saw a mule teachin' school"). In some versions, the narrator(s) are drunk, competing to tell the tallest tale.
Other songs including Buckeye Jim/Limber Jim Songs and Kemo Kimo Songs use animals doing extraordinary things and may be related.
Here are some verses of "Johnny Fool" from Max Hunter:
VERSE 1
See the louse chase the mouse
Hooey-flooey, hooey-flooey
See the louse chase the mouse
Thru a hall, my John
See the louse chase the mouse
From the kitchen to the house
We'll all get drunk tonight
But good ole sober Joe
VERSE 2
See the hen chase the mink
Hooey-flooey, hooey-flooey
See the hen chase the mink
Thru the hall, my John
See the hen chase the mink
To the spring t' get a drink
We'll all get drunk tonight
But good ole sober Joe
VERSE 3
See the flea skin the tree
Hooey-flooey, hooey-flooey
See the flea skin the tree
Thru the hall, my John
See the flea skin the tree
In the middle of the sea
We'll all get drunk tonight
But good ole Sober Joe
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