Recordings & Info: The George Aloe & the Sweepstake
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
4) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
5) Folk Index
6) From: A Sailor's Garland; edited by John Masefield 1906
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 134: The George Aloe & the Sweepstake (34 Listings)
Alternate Titles
The Coast of Barbary
New Barbary
High Barbaree
The Salcombe Seaman's Flaunt to the Proud Pirate
The Queen of Russia and the Prince of Wales
Blow High, Blow Low
The Saylors Only Delight
Traditional Ballad Index: High Barbaree [Child 285; Laws K33]
DESCRIPTION: (Two) ships meet a pirate man-o-war. In the ensuing battle, the pirate is sunk, disabled, or taken.
AUTHOR: unknown (the "High Barbaree" recension is by Charles Dibdin)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1670 (the title is mentioned 1611; a fragment is found in 1634)
KEYWORDS: battle navy ship pirate
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,West),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland US(MA,NE,NW,SE)
REFERENCES: (23 citations)
Child 285, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (1 text)
Bronson 285, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (15 versions)
GreigDuncan1 38, "The Coasts of Barbary" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Laws K33, "High Barbaree"
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 91-92, "The High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 153, "High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 161-162, "High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 419-4212, "High Barbaree" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 320-321]
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 413-418, "High Barbary" (1 text plus 2 songster and 1 broadside version)
BrownII 118, "High Barbaree" (1 short text)
Chappell-FSRA 25, "The Queen of Russia and the Prince of Wales" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 229, "New Barbary" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. 176-187, "The Coast of Barbary" (4 texts plus 3 fragments, 5 tunes) {F=Bronson's #8}
Leach, pp. 665-667, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake"; pp. 777-778, "High Barbaree" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 399, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake"; p. 407, "High Barbaree" (2 texts, 1 tune)
OBB 131, "The 'George-Aloe'" (1 text)
Warner 142, "Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 79, "The Salcombe Seaman's Flaunt to the Proud Pirate" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 12, "The Coasts of High Barbary" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Darling-NAS, pp. 100-101, "High Barbaree" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 91, "High Barbaree" (1 text)
BBI, ZN953, "The George-Aloe and the Sweep-stake too"
DT, HIGHBARB* HIGHBRB3*
Roud #134
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "The Coast of High Barbary" (General 5017B, 1941; on Almanac02, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Bob Roberts, "High Barbaree" (on LastDays)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 4o Rawl. 566(183), "The Saylors Only Delight; shewing the brave fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstake, and certain Frenchmen at sea" ("The George-Aloe, and the Sweep-stake too"), F. Coles (London), 1663-1674; also Douce Ballads 2(196b), "The Seaman's Only Delight: shewing the brave fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstakes and certain French men at sea"
LOCSinging, as102370, "Coast of Barbary," L. Deming (Boston), n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sailor's Joy" (tune, broadsides Bodleian 4o Rawl. 566(183) and Douce Ballads 2(196b))
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Blow High, Blow Low
NOTES: Scholars continue to debate the relationship between Child's text "The George Aloe..." and the better-known "High Barbaree." Laws considers them separate, as does Roud (listing "The George Aloe" as #6739 and "Barbaree" as #134, which will give you some idea of their relative popularity); Coffin, in Flanders-Ancient4, reports that "High Barbary" retains "little of [its] model beyond the plot outline and the Barbary refrain."
I, obviously, think them the same. (Or, more correctly, regard them as separate recensions, but see no point in separating two songs so often filed together, particularly given the rarity of "The George Aloe.") Bronson doesn't even note the difference.
Frank Shay and Coffin, among others, reports that "High Barbaree" was written by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), who wrote a number of songs for the Royal Navy (including "Blow High Blow Low"). If so, it seems likely that he was inspired by "The George Aloe..."; I do not consider this by itself reason to separate the two (again, most especially since certain publications do not distinguish them).
For more on author Charles Dibdin, see the notes to "Blow High Blow Low." - RBW
The first known text of "The George Aloe..." is found in the Shakespeare/Fletcher play "The Two Noble Kinsmen" (perhaps written c. 1611; printed 1634), Act III.v.59-66 (a section generally attributed to Fletcher):
The _George Alow_ came from the south,
From the coast of Barbary-a;
And there he met with brave gallants of war,
By one, by two, by three-a.
Well hail'd, well hail'd, you jolly gallants!
And whither now are you bound-a?
O let me have your company
Till [I] come to the sound-a." [The word "I" is missing in the quarto print; conjectured by Tonson.]
Child can find no historical records of a voyage of these ships, particularly in the vicinity of Barbaree. But it is noteworthy that, in the 1540s, Henry VIII had a ship called the _Sweepstake_. According to N. A. M. Rodger, _The Safeguard of the Sea_, p. 181, this ship and three others were set to patrolling Scotland in 1543 (?). And the enemy ship in "The George Aloe" was French, and the English squadron kept a French fleet from joining with the Scots.
We also find a ship called the _Sweepstake_ in commission in the 1580s, commanded by Captain Diggory Piper; she was a privateer who took at least a couple of Spanish ships. This is interesting because Piper seemed to inspire music; there is a "Captain Diggory Piper's Galliard" mentioned on p. 343 of Rodger.
I won't say that either event inspired this song, but it might have influenced the name of the ship. - RBW
Child Ballad 285: The George Aloe and the Sweepstake
Child --Artist --Title --Album --Year --Length --Have
285 Adam Miller The Coast of High Barbary Along Came a Giant - Traditional American Folk Songs for Young Folks 2004 2:40 Yes
285 Adam Morris High Barbary The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 All in the Merry Month of May High Barbaree At Home 2009 3:41 Yes
285 Anna Maria Schallenburg High Barbery The John Donald Robb Field Recordings 1944-1979 :43 Yes
285 Anne Roos High Barbary Mermaids & Mariners 2004 3:45 Yes
285 Asonance Barbarské Pobrezí (The Coast of High Barbary) Jestráb 2006 4:12 Yes
285 Asonance Barbarské Pobřeží (The Coast of High Barbary) 30 Let Na Pódiu 2008 No
285 Belle Luther Richards Coast of Barbary The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 Billy Faier High Barbary The Art of the Five String Banjo 1958 2:35 Yes
285 Blackbeard's Tea Party High Barbary Heavens to Betsy 2009 3:15 Yes
285 Black Rose High Barbary King Arthur Came Home 2000 3:06 Yes
285 Bob Keefe High Barberee Wandering Thru the Roots - A Solitary Journey Through the Roots of Folk Music 2010 No
285 Bob Roberts High Barbaree Folk Song Today - Songs and Ballads of England and Scotland 1955 2:55 Yes
285 Bob Roberts High Barbaree Sea Songs & Shanties - Traditional English Sea Songs & Shanties from the Last Days of Sail 1994 3:09 Yes
285 Bob Roberts High Barbaree Breeze for a Bargeman 1981 No
285 Bob Roberts High Barbaree Stormy Weather, Boys 1975 No
285 Bob Roberts High Barbaree The Heart of the Song 2008 No
285 Bob Roberts High Barbary (Coast of High Barbary) Reg Hall Archive 1953-1977 3:00 Yes
285 Bounding Main High Barbaree Lost at Sea 2005 3:06 Yes
285 Brian Peters & Gordon Tyrrall High Barbary The Moving Moon 2000 3:26 Yes
285 Brigands' Folie High Barbaree Fog & Fire 2008 No
285 Burl Ives High Barbaree Wild Side of Life 2006 No
285 Burl Ives High Barbaree The Spoken Arts Treasury of American Ballads and Folk Songs 1970 2:41 Yes
285 Burl Ives High Barbaree The Wayfaring Stranger 1955 3:16 Yes
285 Burl Ives High Barbaree The Wayfaring Stranger 2000 3:16 Yes
285 Burl Ives High Barbaree Troubador - Original 1941-1950 Recordings 2004 3:17 Yes
285 Charles "Tink" Tillett Barbaree Barbaree - Songs from the Outer Banks 1987 No
285 Chris Sarjeant Coast of Barbary Heirlooms 2012 3:22 Yes
285 Cztery Refy High Barbaree Bitwy Morskie 1999 3:18 Yes
285 Dick Wilder High Barbaree Badmen, Heroes and Pirate Songs and Ballads 1957 No
285 Dick Wilder High Barbaree Pirate Songs and Ballads 1954 No
285 Ed McCurdy High Barbary Folk Festival at the Exodus 1960 No
285 Ed McCurdy High Barbary The Ballad Record 1955 2:21 Yes
285 Ewan MacColl The High Barbaree Scotland 1951, 1953, and 1958 (Lomax T3469) 1957 1:54 Yes
285 George Vinton Graham Down Around the Coast of La Barbaree California Gold - Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected By Sidney Robertson Cowell 193? 2:53 Yes
285 Gibb 'Ranzo' Schreffler [Hulton Clint] High Barbaree (Capstan Chantey Version) <website> 2008- 2:52 Yes
285 Gibb 'Ranzo' Schreffler [Hulton Clint] High Barbaree (forebitter) <website> 2008- :56 Yes
285 Gibb 'Ranzo' Schreffler [Hulton Clint] High Barbaree ('West Country' Tune) <website> 2008- 2:47 Yes
285 Golden Bough The Wild Barbary Pirate Gold 2008 No
285 Gordon Bok & Cindy Kallet High Barbary Neighbors 1996 5:18 Yes
285 Heather Alexander High Barbary Festival Wind 2003 4:14 Yes
285 Hulton Clint High Barbaree (Capstan Chantey Version) <website> 2008- 2:52 Yes
285 Hulton Clint High Barbaree (forebitter) <website> 2008- :56 Yes
285 Hulton Clint High Barbaree ('West Country' Tune) <website> 2008- 2:47 Yes
285 Isla Cameron High Barbaree The Jupiter Book of Ballads 1962 2:41 Yes
285 Jack McNally High Coast of Barbary The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 James H. Kneeland High Barbary The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 Jeff Warner & Jeff Davis Coast of Barbaree Wilder Joy - Traditional American Folksongs 1987 3:41 Yes
285 Jesse Lee Jones High Barbaree Titanic: Epic Songs of the Sea 1998 2:42 Yes
285 Joe Hickerson High Barbaree Drive Dull Care Away, Volume II 1976 4:01 Yes
285 John Roberts & Tony Barrand High Barbary Twiddlum Twaddlum - Live in Concert 2003 3:32 Yes
285 Jon Pfaff High Barbary It's Jon Goddammitt! 1998 No
285 Joseph Arthur Coast of High Barbary Rogue's Gallery - Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys 2006 4:03 Yes
285 Lena Bourne Fish Along the Coast of Barbary (1) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 Lena Bourne Fish Along the Coast of Barbary (2) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 Lionel Long High Barbaree Songs of the Sea 1964 3:10 Yes
285 Maclaine Colston & Saul Rose Barbaree Sand & Soil 2009 4:44 Yes
285 Maude Lyman Stevens High Barbaree The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 Merry Mischief High Barbary Scally Wags 2007 No
285 Mrs. Carrie Grover The Wild Barbaree Folk Music of the United States - Anglo-American Songs and Ballads (4) 1959 2:20 Yes
285 Mrs. Sally McNally Coast of New Barbary The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 Neil Hannon Coast of High Barbary Rogues Gallery - Live at the Barbican, London 2008 2008 4:47 Yes
285 Oscar Brand High Barbaree Rollicking Sea Shanties 1954 1:54 Yes
285 Pat Shuldham-Shaw The Coasts of High Barbary Rhyme and Rhythm – Poems and Songs for Children 1965 No
285 Pat Shuldham-Shaw The Coasts of High Barbary Oats and Beans and Barley - Songs for Children - Children's Songs 1965 No
285 Paul & Liz Davenport Captain Bart Spring Tide Rising 2011 No
285 Perpetual e-Motion High Barbory Perpetual e-Motion 2010 5:42 Yes
285 Pete Seeger The Coast of High Barbary American Industrial Ballads .. and More 2007 No
285 Pete Seeger The Coast of High Barbaree Folk Songs 2005 2:30 Yes
285 Pete Seeger & The Almanac Singers The Coast of High Barbary American Roots: A History of American Folk Music 2000 2:28 Yes
285 Peter Bellamy Barbaree Both Sides Then 1992 3:31 Yes
285 Peter Bellamy Barbaree The Good Old Way - British Folk Music Today 1980 No
285 Peter Bellamy Barbaree Folk '80 1980 4:43 Yes
285 Peter Johnson & Friends High Barbaree Newport's Fair Town - Traditional Songs and Ballads from North America 2007 No
285 Phillip Hole High Barbary The Singing Gravedigger 2004 No
285 Phillip Hole High Barbary Hudson Valley Mayfaire 2007 2007 4:43 Yes
285 Quadriga Consort The Coasts of High Barbary Ships Ahoy! Songs of Wind, Water & Tide 2011 3:05 >Yes
285 Richard Hayes Phillips The Coasts of High Barbary Both Sides of the Ocean 2002 No
285 Round Town Girls High Barbary Round One 198? No
285 Shanghaied on the Willamette Coast of Barbary Two-Man Crew 2004 No
285 Skibbereen High Barbaree Skibbereen 1976 5:29 Yes
285 Steve Benbow High Barbaree Don't Monkey with My Gun 2003 No
285 Stuart Bougen, Heather Mitchell, Geoff Anders, Bill Baritompa, Andy Hills, George Stewart, Brian Ringrose & Russell Thomas The Coasts of High Barbarie Sea Shanties-Chants De Marins - Vol. 2 1995 2:32 Yes
285 The Almanac Singers The Coast of High Barbary Their Complete General Recordings 1996 2:46 Yes
285 The Almanac Singers The Coast of High Barbary Which Side Are You On? The Best of the Almanac Singers 2006 2:30 Yes
285 The Almanac Singers The Coast of High Barbary Songs of Protest 2001 2:33 Yes
285 The Almanac Singers The Coast of High Barbary Songs for Political Action - Folkmusic, Topical Songs and the American Left 1926-1951 1996 2:33 Yes
285 The Almanac Singers Coast of High Barbary The Sea, The Soil & The Struggle 2004 2:32 Yes
285 The Corsairs High Barbary The Corsairs [The Red One] 1997 2:16 Yes
285 The Dauphin Trio High Barbaree Movin' On 1961 2:10 Yes
285 The Gateway Singers High Barbary Down in the Valley 1960 3:23 Yes
285 The Gregg Smith Singers High Barbary American Folk Songs No
285 The McCalmans Coasts of Barbary House Full 1976 2:36 Yes
285 The McCalmans Coasts of Barbary Singers Three 1969 No
285 The New Scorpion Band High Barbaree Why, Soldier, Why? - Songs of Battles Lost and Won 2002 3:49 Yes
285 The New Scorpion Band High Barbaree + Major Malley’s Reel Out on the Ocean 2004 No
285 The Pyrates Royale High Barbary Tales of the Brigantine 2004 3:45 Yes
285 The Roger Wagner Chorale High Barbaree Sea Chanties 1961 2:58 Yes
285 The Roving Bottles High Barbary Live Aus Hamburg 1994 3:13 Yes
285 The Seadogs High Barbary Omnes Amant Piratas Cantantes (Everyone Loves Singin' Pirates!) 2006 2:39 Yes
285 The Seekers High Barbary The Seekers Complete 1997 2:19 Yes
285 The Stack High Barbary The Northern Meeting - Celtic Music in Milwaukee 1995 5:30 Yes
285 The Starboard List High Barbaree Songs of the Tall Ships + Cruising 'Round Yarmouth 1996 2:40 Yes
285 The X-Seamen's Institute High Barbaree Favorite Sea Songs - Songs from the Age of Sail 1981 No
285 The Young Folk High Barbaree Ribble Valley Dream 1972 No
285 Tom & Jon Boden Barbaree A Folk Song a Day - September 2010 3:31 Yes
285 Tom Glazer The High Barbaree The Ballad of Namu, the Killer Whale, Live and Let Live and Other Ballads of Adventure 1966 No
285 Tom Glazer & Pat Moffitt The High Barbaree The Musical Heritage of America 1973 No
285 Tom Goux & Jacek Sulanowski High Barbary Born of Another Time - Songs of the Sailors - Songs of the Sea 1982 4:16 Yes 285 Tom Kines High Barbaree Songs from Shakespeare's Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare's Time 1961 2:51 Yes
285 Unidentified Singer High Coast of Barbary The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
285 William Pint & Felicia Dale High Barbaree Seven Seas 2004 3:49 Yes
285 William Pint & Felicia Dale High Barbaree Waterbug Anthology 7 2004 3:49 Yes
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
285. THE GEORGE ALOE AND THE SWEEPSTAKE
Texts: George Aloe: JAFL, XVIII, 134 / Shay, Deep Sea Chanties, 58.
Coast of Barbary Examples : American Songster (Cozzens, N.Y.) / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 4.13 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 51 / Colcord, Roll and Go, 78 / Colcord, Sgs Am Sailormen, 153 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 229 / Forget-me-not Songster (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia and N.Y., c. 1840) / Lomax and Lomax, Our Sgng Cntry, 212 / Morris, F-S Flo,, 91 / Nesser, Aw Naval Sgs Bids, 303 / Shay, Am Sea Sgs Chanties, 91 / Shay, Deep Sea Chanties, 98 / Shay, My Ptotts Frnds Drkn Cmpns, 140 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 66.
Local Titles: The George Aloe and the Sweepstake.
Story Types: A: Two merchant ships, the Aloe and the Sweepstake, are sailing by Barbary. The Aloe anchors, but the Sweepstake goes on and is attacked and boarded by a French man o' war. When those aboard the Aloe hear this, they sail out to meet the Frenchmen. They sight the enemy.
Examples: Shay.
B: A man of war (originally she was a merchant ship) out cruising sights a frigate and, on hailing her, learns that she is a privateer (originally she was a French man o' war). A battle ensues, and the man o' war shoots the pirate's mast away. The robber calls for mercy, but none is shown.
Examples: JAFL, XVIII, 134.
Discussion: The American Types A and B, if placed together, give the complete story of the ballad. However, the Type B text has been changed to the extent that the merchantman and French man o' war have become a man o' war and a privateer respectively. As this version was collected from a United States Navy sailor and is of Civil War vintage, the change is understandable. See Child, V, 133 for his outline of the narrative and a discussion of a possible second part to the English ballad.
There are many American versions of a derivative of Child 285 that go under a variation of a Coast of Barbary title. These tell of a sea-fight between a privateer and a victorious man o' war (a feature that may account for the switch noted above in Type B) and trace back to a song based on the ballad and written for the British Navy by Charles Dibden (1745 1814). Little except the alternating refrain and the phrase "coast of Barbary" is retained of the Child song, however. Versions are found along the sea-coast. See Colcord's discoveries from New Bedford and Lomax's text from West Bermuda.
Folk Index: The George Aloe and the Sweepstake [Ch 285]
Rt - High Barbary/Barbaree ; Sailor's Only Delight
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p399 [1670s]
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p665
High Barbary/Barbaree [Laws K33/Ch 285] - Dibden, Charles
Rt - George Aloe and the Sweepstake
Sm - My Darling Plowman Boy
Laws, G. Malcolm / American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1957), p157
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p408 [1902]
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swingin' Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p275
Shay, Frank (ed.) / My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions and More ..., Dover, Sof (1961/1927), p102 [1918/05/11]
Best, Dick & Beth (eds.) / New Song Fest Deluxe, Hansen, Sof (1971/1948), p132
Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof, 4, p21 (1962)
Kines, Tom (ed.) / Songs from Shakespeare's Plays and Popular Songs of S, Oak, sof (1964), p 78
Boni, Margaret Bradford (ed.) / Fireside Book of Folk Songs, Simon & Schuster, Bk (1947), p166 (Coasts of High Barbary)
Colcord, Joanna (ed.) / Songs of American Sailormen, Norton, Bk (1938/1924), p153
Silverman, Jerry / How to Play Guitar, Doubleday, Sof (1968), p 64
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p777
Latest 101 Hootenanny Folk Song Favorites, Modern World Library No. 28, Fol (1963), p37
Almanac Singers. Their Complete General Recordings, MCA MCAD 11499, CD (1996), trk# 13 [1941/07/07] (Coasts of High Barbary)
Archer, Frances; and Beverly Gile. International Songs and Ballads, Stand 408, LP (196?), trk# B.04 (Coasts of High Barbary)
Arthur, Joseph. Rogues Gallery, Anti 86817-2, CD (2006), trk# 1.10 (Coasts of High Barbary)
Delano, William J.. Flanders, Helen H. & George Brown / Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads, Folklore Associates, Bk (1968/1931), p229 [1930/09/19] (New Barbary)
Dingle, Captain A. E.. Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Our Singing Country, Dover, Sof (2000/1941), p212 [1930s]
Faier, Billy. Art of the Five String Banjo, Riverside RLP 12-813, LP (1957), trk# A.06
Gibson, Bob. Everybody Sing, Vol 2., Riverside RLP 1419, LP (196?), trk# 7b
Glazer, Tom. Namu, the Killer Whale, and Other Ballads of Adventure, United Artists UAS 6540, LP (1966), trk# B.06
Goux, Tom; and Jacek Sulanowski. Born of Another Time, Folkways FSS 37350, LP (1982), trk# A.06
Grover, Carrie. Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L21, LP (196?), trk# B.01 [1941/04] (Wild Barbaree)
Hickerson, Joe. Drive Dull Care Away. Vol 2, Folk Legacy FSI 059, LP (1976), trk# 7
Hirschberg, Walter. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Bk (1950), p 53/# 21A [1934-39]
Ives, Burl. Wayfaring Stranger, Columbia CS 9041, LP (1964/1955), trk# B.08
Ives, Burl. Ives, Burl / Burl Ives Song Book, Ballantine Books, Bk (1953), p132
McCurdy, Ed. Ballad Record, Riverside RLP 12-601, LP (1955), trk# A.11
Round Town Girls. Round One, Topaz TLS-1228, LP (198?), trk# A.09
Shanghaied on the Willamette. Two Man Crew, SOW CD 103, CD (2004), trk# 5 (Coast of Barbaree)
Starboard List. Cruising Round Yarmouth, Adelphi AD 1027, LP (1977), trk# B.03
Surber, L. E.. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Bk (1950), p 54/# 21B [1934-39]
Warner, Jeff; and Jeff Davis. Wilder Joy, Flying Fish FF 431, LP (1987), trk# 8 (Coast of Barbaree)
My Darling Plowman Boy [Laws M22]
Rt - Bonny Sailor Boy
Sm - High Barbary/Barbaree ; Whistle, Daughter, Whistle
MacBeath, Jimmie/Jimmy. Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 1. Songs of Courtship, Caedmon TC 1142, LP (1961), trk# B.06 [1951ca]
MacBeath, Jimmie/Jimmy. Two Gentlemen of the Road, Rounder 1793, CD( (2002), trk# 2.01 [1953/11/14]
MacBeath, Jimmie/Jimmy. Kennedy, Peter (ed.) / Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, Oak, Sof (1984/1975), #163, p363 [1951]
The Sailor's Only Delight [Ch 285]
Rt - George Aloe and the Sweepstake
Palmer, Roy (ed.) / Oxford Book of Sea Songs, Oxford, Bk (1986), p 13/# 8 [1666ca]
From: A Sailor's Garland; edited by John Masefield 1906
THE SALCOMBE SEAMAN'S FLAUNT TO THE PROUD PIRATE [This was printed as a broadside in Dublin in 1910 by Yeats.]
A Lofty ship from Salcombe came,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
She had golden trucks that shone like flame,
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
"Masthead, masthead," the captains hail,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
"Look out and round; d' ye see a sail?"
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
"There's a ship what looms like Beachy Head,"
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
"Her banner aloft it blows out red,"
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
"Oh, ship ahoy, and where do you steer?"
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
"Are you man-of-war, or privateer?"
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
"I am neither one of the two," said she,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
"I'm a pirate, looking for my fee,"
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.'
"I'm a jolly pirate, out for gold :"
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
"I will rummage through your after hold,"
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
The grumbling guns they flashed and roared,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
Till the pirate's masts went overboard,
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
They fired shot till the pirate's deck,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
Was blood and spars and broken wreck,
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
"O do not haul the red flag down,"
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
"O keep all fast until we drown,"
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
They called for cans of wine, and drank,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
They sang their songs until she sank,
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
Now let us brew good cans of flip,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
And drink a bowl to the Salcombe ship,
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
And drink a bowl to the lad of fame,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
Who put the pirate ship to shame,
On the bonny coasts of Barbary.
-----------------------
Ancient Orkney Melodies
by E. A. White and Anne G. Gilchrist
Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Dec., 1938), pp. 183-194
For other versions, notes and references, see journal v, 263-5, under the title "Sir William Gower "-a version also called " The New York Trader," " New York in Amerikee" being a modernisation of " New Barbaree" or "High Barbary."
In the " New York Trader'" the captain adds starvation of crew and passengers to his crimes. The destination of the ship was " High Barbary" in earlier versions.
-----------------
Narrative and Historical Ballads and Songs
by Cecil J. Sharp and Lucy E. Broadwood
Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 5, No. 20 (Nov., 1916), pp. 253-267
The Coasts of Barbary collected 1914
See Folk-Songs from Somerset, Vol. iv, No. 85; English Folk-Songs for Schools, No. 9; and "The Sailor's only Delight" in Ashton's Real Sailor-Songs. Mr. Ashton quotes a reference to the ballad in " The Two Noble Kinsmen."-.C. J. S.
------------------
The Mad Songs in "The Two Noble Kinsmen"
by H. Littledale
The Modern Language Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Apr., 1910), pp. 200-201
THE MAD SONGS IN 'THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.'
In The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Shakespeare and Fletcher, there are certain snatches of song sung by the mad daughter of the gaoler, that have not hitherto been identified by any of the editors of the Play.
In Act III, scene 4, she sings:
For Ile cut my greene coat a foot above my knee,
And Ile clip my yellow locks an inch below mine e'e:
Hey nonny, nonny, nonny.
These lines recall a formula that is of frequent occurrence in the ballads. Thus in Child Waters (No. 63, Child, version A, from
Percy MS., p. 274, Hales and F., ii, 269) stanza 9 runs:
If you will my ffootpage be, Ellen,
As you doe tell it me,
Then you must cutt your gowne of greene
An inch above your knee.
Soe must you doe your yellow lockes,
Another inch above your eye; etc.
(Compare pp. 150a, 165b, and 216b, of the one-volume edition of Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads.)
In the next scene (III, 4) she sings two stanzas from a lost version of a famous old sea-song:
The George alow! came from the south,
From the coast of Barbary-a: etc.
with which compare The Sailor's only delight, describing the fight between the George Aloe and the Sweepstake. This ballad will be easily referred to, in Mr Christopher Stone's pleasant collection of 200 Sea-Songs and Ballads, or in Halliwell's Naval Ballads, or as No. 285 in Child's volume, p. 610. The ballad was entered on the Stationers' Registers in 1611, and thus may have some significance with regard to the date of the play. The name George Aloe has long been a puzzle, but Mr Bullen tells me that somewhere he has seen George a' Looe suggested, and this to me seems a perfectly certain explanation of the vessel's name and port.
From this song the mad girl breaks into another:
There was three fooles fell out about an howlet.
The one sed it was an owle;
The other he sed Iay;
The third he sed it was a hawke,
And her bels were cut away.
This is obviously an earlier version of the nursery rhyme given in Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes (No. ccxc, p. 161):
There were three jovial Welshmen,
As I have heard them say,
And they would go a hunting
Upon St David's day.
These jovial huntsmen find many objects: a ship, the moon, a hedgehog, a hare, and finally 'an owl in a holly tree.'
One said it was an owl,
The other he said nay;
The third said 'twas an old man,
And his beard was growing grey.
We may ascribe textual variations to the existence of other versions, or to the state of the young lady's mind.
This identification of 'mad songs' illustrates the fact that such songs (as in Ophelia's case also) come from folk-poetry, not from
culture-music. They are the songs learnt in childhood and recalled in madness.
H. LITTLEDALE.
CARDIFF.
--------------------
Notes from Sharp 1916:
No. 12. The Coasts of High Barbary
A version of this song, which the Rev. S. Baring-Gould collected in Devonshire, is published in English Folk Songs for Schools. I have collected only one other version, the first stanza of which runs thus:
Two lofty ships of war from old England set sail;
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we,
One was the Princess Charlotte and the other the Prince of Wales,
A-coming down along the coasts of Barbary.
The ballad is evidently related to an old broadside sea-song, which Mr. Ashton reproduces in his Real Sailor Songs. It is headed "The Sailor's onely Delight, shewing the brave fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstakes, and certain Frenchmen at sea," and consists of twenty-three stanzas, the first of which runs:
The George-Aloe and the Sweepstake, too, with hey, with hoe, for and a nony no,
O, they were Merchant men, and bound for Safee and alongst the Coast of Barbary.
Mr. Ashton thinks that the "ballad was probably written in the latter part of the sixteenth century," and he points out that it is quoted in a play,"The Two Noble Kinsmen," written by "the Memorable Worthies, Mr. John Fletcher and Mr. William Shakespeare."
To the six verses which the singer sang to me I have added three others; two from the Devon version (with Mr. Baring-Gould's kind permission), and one—the last one in the text —from the broadside above mentioned.
The third phrase of the tune, which is in the AEolian mode, is not unlike the corresponding phrase of "When Johnny comes Marching Home Again. "Compare, also," Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (No. 59).
-------------
Southern Folklore Quarterly:
Concerning his seventh ballad, "High Barbary", Barry himself recognized that its basic story does not follow Child 285: "The two ballads have little . . .
neither does Joanna Colcord, [77] nor Stan Hugill, [78] nor Frederick Harlow.79] However, the last four collectors do all indicate the same source for their songs— which parallel Barry's, only are even closer to the Child ballad than is his; that source is a broadside in Patterson's Anthology [Salcombe Seaman's], which itself seems to have been copied from "The George Aloe and the Sweepstakes.