Recordings & Info: 284. John Dory
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 249: John Dory (34 Listings)
Alternate Titles
The Ballad of John Dory
Traditional Ballad Index: John Dory [Child 284]
DESCRIPTION: John Dory gets a horse and sets out for Paris. There he meets King John. He offers to bring King John "all the churles in merie England" in return for a pardon. Dory is overtaken by one Nicholl of Cornwall, who takes him prisoner after a sharp battle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Ravenscroft)
KEYWORDS: ship royalty pardon battle foreigner
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1350-1364 - Reign of John II of France (the only French king named John who lived during the Hundred Years' War)
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Child 284, "John Dory" (1 text)
Bronson 284, "John Dory" (7 versions)
OBB 133, "John Dory" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 93-96, "John Dory" (1 text, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #1d, #3, #1c}
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 16, "John Dory" (1 text)
ST C284 (Full)
Roud #249
NOTES: In addition to the citation from Ravenscroft, we find a reference to this song in Beaumont and Fletcher's _Knight of the Burning Pestle_; ActII, scene iv, line 35 reads, "Would I had gone to Paris with John Dory."
There is a fish, Latin name Zeus astralis, informally known as the "John Dory." It is apparently carniverous, approaching its prey cautiously and colored so as to resemble seaweed. I do not know if the name is in any way connected with this song. - RBW
Child Collection- Child Ballad 284: John Dory
Child --Artist --Title --Album --Year --Length --Have
284 Brenda Wootton John Dory Children Singing 1976 1:19 Yes
284 Brenda Wootton John Dory The Voice of Cornwall, Vol. 2 [La Grande Cornouaillaise] 2011 No
284 John Renbourn Group John Dory Live in America 1982 3:02 Yes
284 The London Madrigal Singers & Christopher Bishop John Dory Vaughan Williams- The Collector's Edition 2008 2:13 Yes