THE LINCOLNS AND HANKSES
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(Contents)
THE MISSOURI HARMONY
WINDSOR
GREENFIELDS
WORTHINGTON
HIGHBRIDGE
LEGACY
THE BROWN GIRL OR FAIR ELEANOR
HEY BETTY MARTIN (Music arr. Alfred 0. Wathall)
OLD BRASS WAGON (Music arr. Floyd Faman)
CUCKOO WALTZ (Music arr. by Floyd Faman)
WEEVILY WHEAT
EL-A-NOY (Music arr. by Hazel Faman)
H OOB EN JOHNNY (Music arr. by Alfred G. Wathall)
MY PRETTY LITTLE PINK (Music arr. by Alfred 0. Wathall)
LINCOLN AND LIBERTY
OLD ABE LINCOLN CAME OUT OF THE WILDERNESS (Music arr. by Hazel Faman)
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THE MISSOURI HARMONY
A famous oblong song book of the pioneer days in the middle west was "The Missouri Harmony,'* published in 1808 by Morgan and Sanxay of Cincinnati!. Young Abraham Lincoln and his sweetheart, Ann Rutledge, sang from this book in the Rutledge tavern in New Salem, according to old settlers there. It was used at camp meetings of Peter Cartwright and other circuit riding evangelists, and was highly thought of by many church members in the Mississippi Valley.
Though the volume included "Legacy" an Irish drinking song, praising "balmy drops of the red grape" the author in his instructions to singers, warned them: "A cold or cough, all kinds of spiritouH liquors, violent exercise, bile upon the stomach, long fasting, the veins overcharged with impure blood, etc., etc., are destructive to the voice of one who is much in the habit of singing. A frequent use of spiritous liquors will speedily ruin the best voice."
In further advice on vocal hygiene, he declared, "A frequent use of some acid drink, such as purified cider, elixir of vitriol with water, vinegar, etc., if used sparingly is strengthening to the lungs."
The author of the "supplement" on how to sing, kept himself anonymous, the title page saying the book was "By An Amateur." He desired his readers to know "the superiority of vocal to instrumental music is, that while one only pleases the ear, the other informs the understanding." Under the head of "General Observations," he gave these hints on the frame of mind singers should try for: "There should not be any noise indulged in while singing (except the music) as it destroys entirely the beauty of harmony, and renders the performance (especially to learners) very difficult; and if it is designedly promoted, it is nothing less than a proof of disrespect in the singers to the exercise, to themselves who occasion it, and to the Author of our existence."
"All affectation" should be banished. It is disgusting in the performance of sacred music, and contrary to that solemnity which should accompany an exercise so near akin to that which will through all eternity engage the attention of those who walk "in climes of bliss." "The great Jehovah, who implanted in our nature the noble faculty of vocal performance, is jealous of the use to which we apply our talents in that particular lest we exercise them in a way which does not tend to glorify his name."
The pages from the "Missouri Harmony," reproduced here, contain at least two songs with which Abraham Lincoln had close acquaintance. Dennis Hanks, a cousin of Lincoln, has related that in Spencer County, Indiana, the song, "How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours," (Greenfields), was well-known, and New Salem, Illinois, residents have told of how Lincoln parodied "Legacy."
[No sense reproducing these shape-note arrangements here- the book is available to view and download on-line; at some point I might include here]
THE BROWN GIRL OR FAIR ELEANOR
Nancy Hanks in her old Kentucky home, sang ballads the western pioneers brought through Cumberland Gap from the uplands and mountains farther east The story of the Brown Girl stabbing Fair Eleanor, then having her head cut off by Lord Thomas, who killed himself and was buried with the two women, sounds almost like a grand opera plot. Grim and terrible though this ballad story is, the tune is even, comforting, a little like riding a slow galloping horse. It is still used in many a southern mountain home for rocking the children to sleep. Little Abe Lincoln, as a child, probably heard The Brown Girl, according to persons familiar with Kentucky backgrounds. This version is from the Reed Smith ballad group published by the University of South Carolina; it was heard by Tressie Pierce in Alexander County, North Carolina. The thirteenth verse is an interpolation from another text, to explain the killing of Lord Thomas by himself before he is buried with the two ladies who so suddenly met violent deaths. Where the singer is so inclined, the last lines of each verse are repeated.
1 "The Brown Girl she has houses and lands,
Fair Eleanor she has none;
The best advice I can give you, my son,
Is to bring the Brown Girl home."
2 He dressed himself in scarlet red,
And rode all over the town;
And everybody that saw him that day,
Thought he was the King.
3 He rode till he came to Fair Eleanor's door,
And tingled at the ring;
And none so ready as Fair Eleanor,
To arise and let him in.
4 "What news, what news, Lord Thomas," she said,
"What news have you for me?"
"I've come to ask'you to my weddin'.
Tomorrow is the day."
5 "Bad news, bad news, Lord Thomas," she said,
" Bad news, bad news, to me;
You've come to ask me to your weddin',
When I thought your bride I was to be."
6 She dressed herself in scarlet red,
And rode all over the town;
And everybody that saw her that day,
Took her to be the Queen.
7 She rode till she came to Lord Thomas' door,
And tingled at the ring;
And none so ready as Lord Thomas himself,
To arise and let her in.
8 "Is this your bride? Lord Thomas," she cried,
"I'm sure, she's wonderful brown;
You might have had as fair a young bride,
As ever the sun shone on."
9 The Brown Girl, she had a long pen-knife,
Twas wonderful long and sharp;
Between the short ribs and the long,
She pierced Fair Eleanor's heart.
10 "Fair Eleanor, what makes you look so pale?
You used to look so red;
You used to have two rosy red cheeks,
And now you've nary one."
11 "Oh, don't you see, or can't you see,
The knife that was pierced in me?
Oh, don't you see my own heart's blood,
A-tricklin' to my knee?"
12 Lord Thomas had a long broad-sword,
It was wonderful long and sharp,
He cut the head of the Brown Girl off,
And kicked it against the wall.
13 He pointed the handle toward the sun,
The point toward his breast.
"Here is the going of three true loves,
God send our souls to rest.
14 "Go dig my grave under yonder green tree,
Go dig it wide and long;
And bury Fair Eleanor in my arms,
And the Brown Girl at my feet."
HEY BETTY MARTIN
In the early 1890's, in the tank towns of the corn telt, few women bobbed their hair. Often when a woman who had taken this li tarty walked along Main Street on a night when there was to be a band concert on the public square, she was an object of special scrutiny. Young men would sing at her:
Chippy, get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,
Chippy, get your hair cut, hair cut short.
The tune went back to a ditty sung in the 1860's during the War between the States, as follows:
Johnny, git your gun and your sword and your pistol,
Johnny, git your gun and come with me.
The tune is at least as old as the War of 1812, when drummer boys beat it on their drums and sang words about "Hey Itetty Martin Tiptoe." We have that drummer's melody and words from A. T. Vance, a Long Island, New York, fisherman who was raised in Kansas, and whose great-grandfather was a drummer in the War of 1812. The tune is traditionary in the Vance family and is executed with variations hy Comfort Vance, son of A. T. The tempo, Wathall indicates, is allegretto acherzando, which in 1812 meant "Make it snappy," or "Let's go." -
Hey Bet -ty Mar -tin, tip - toe, tip - toe,
Hey Bet -ty Mar- tin, tip - toe fine,
OLD BRASS WAGON
Indiana, Missouri and Iowa pioneers had this dance game. The note following the verses below is from The Play-Party in Indiana by Leah Jackson Wolford.
1 Circle to the left, Old Brass Wagon,
You're the one, my darling.
2 Swing oh swing, Old Brass Wagon,
You're the one, my darling.
8 Promenade home, Old Brass Wagon,
You're the one, my darling.
4 Shoddish up and down, the Old Brass Wagon,
You're the one, my darling.
5 Break and swing, the Old Brass Wagon,
You're the one, ray darling.
6 Promenade around the Old Brass Wagon,
You're the one, my darling. ^
NOTE. Repeat the first line of each stanza three times. During 1, all join hands, boys being at the left of their partners, and circle left. At 2, they drop hands and each boy swings his partner. During 3, partners promenade, circling to the right. Repeat from the beginning while singing stanzas 4, 5 and 6.
CUCKOO WALTZ
The tune here is ancient. Saxon, Teuton, Slav, Magyar, have used the likes of it in dance and folk song. . . . Hazel Felman gives it an old-fashioned music box setting. . . . Leah Jackson Wolford's book on "The Play-Party in Indiana" includes the tune and a description of the dance.
Three times round the cuck-oo waltz,
Threc times round the cuck-oo waltz,
Three times round the
cuck-oo waltz,Lovc- ly Sus - ic Brown. Fare thcc well, my charm ing girl, Fare thcewcll I'm
Fare thee well, my charming girl, With gold - en slip -pers on.
(a) Choose your parti as we go round,
Choose your parti as we go round,
Choose your pard as we go round,
(b) Well all take Susie Brown.
(c) Fare thee well, my charming girl,
(d) Fare thee well I'm gone,
Fare thee well, my charming girl,
With golden slippers on.
NOTE: A boy and a girl stand in the center. All of the others (irrespective of partners) circle to the left around them during (a). At (b) the girl chooses a boy, the boy a girl, and all four stand in the center. At (c) the two couples in the center form a circle, each boy opposite his partner. Partners cross hands forming a " star " and circle left. Repeat with left hands and circle right. At (d) each of the boys in the center swings the contrary girl, then two-steps with his partner.
WEEVILY WHEAT
"Way Down in the Paw Paw Patch/' and "All Chaw Hay on the Corner," were play-party *mgs in early times in Indiana. Others were "Pig in the Parlor," "Pop, Goes the Weasel," "Old Bald Eagle Sail Around," "Old Sister Phoebe," "Skip to My Lou," "Thus the Farmer Sows His Seed-" A dance somewhat like Virginia Reel went to the song of " Weevily Wheat." Indications are that the Charley of this song may be the Prince Charlie of Jacobite ballads; he figures in songs of the Scotch Highlanders who were harassed during Prince Charlie's time, left their homes to take up life in the Alleghanies and to spread westward.
1 It's step her to your weev'ly wheat,
It's step her to your barley,
It's step her to your weev'ly wheat,
To bake a cake for Charley.
Refrain: O Charley he's a fine young man,
Charley he's a dandy,
He loves to hug and kiss the girls,
And feed 'em on good candy.
The higher up the cherry tree,
The riper grow the cherries.
The more you hug and kiss the girls,
The sooner they will marry.
Refrain:
3. Over the river to water the sheep,
To measure up the barley,
Over the river to water the sheep,
To bake a cake for Charley.
Refrain:
4. My pretty little Pink, I suppose you think,
I care but little about you,
But I'll let you know before you go
I cannot do without you.
Refrain:
EL-A-NOY
Among the pioneers were boomers, boosters. About the time this song came, the Shawneetown Advocate, only newspaper in seven counties of southern Illinois, was proclaiming its ideal to be "universal liberty abroad, and an ocean-bound republic at home." In northern Illinois, the Gem of the Prairie, a weekly magazine published in Chicago, was declaring, "The West must have a literature peculiarly its own. It is here that the great problem of human destiny will be worked out on a grander scale than was ever before attempted or conceived" . . . John D. Black, a Chicago attorney-at-law, lived on the Ohio River as a boy and heard his father sing El-a-noy. . . . Shawnee Ferry was a crossing point for many who had come by the Ohio river route or on Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap, headed for Illinois . . . The fourth verse is probably a later addition thrown in by some joker who felt challenged by the preceding verses.
'Way down upon the Wabash,
Sich land was never known;
If Adam had passed over it,
The soil he'd surely own;
He'd think it was the garden
He'd played in when a boy,
And straight pronounce it Eden,
In the State of El-a-noy.
Refrain: Then move your family westward,
Good health you will enjoy,
And rise to wealth and honor
In the State of El-a-noy.
Twas here the Queen of Sheba came,
With Solomon of old,
With an Ass load of spices,
Pomegranates and fine gold;
And when she saw this lovely land,
Her heart was filled with joy,
Straightway she said: "I'd like to be
A Queen in El-a-noy."
Refrain:
3 She's bounded by the Wabash,
The Ohio and the Iwikes,
She's crawfish in the swampy lands.
The milk-sick and the shakes;
But those arc slight diversions
And take not from the joy
Of living in this garden laud,
The Slate of El-a-noy.
Refrain:
4. Away up in the northward,
Right on the border line,
A great commercial city,
Chicago, you will find.
Her men are all like Abelard,
Her women like Heloise;
All honest virtuous people,
For they live in El-a-noy.
Last Refrain: Then move your family westward,
Bring all your girls and boys,
And cross at Shawnee ferry
To the State of El-a-noy.
HOOSEN JOHNNY
Lawyers sat around the wood stoves of the taverns and hotels of the Eighth Circuit in Illinois and sang this on many a winter night. Lincoln heard it often. It was a favorite of his singing friend with the banjo, Ward Hill Lamon. Col. Clark E. Carr, who came to Illinois in 1852 and was a first settler of Galesburg, tells us in his book "The Illini" of these verses, "The improvisor would go on singing as long as he could. The solo is a sort of droning chant; but the chorus, when sung by good voices, is superb. The song became a favorite with lawyers traveling the circuit in those days, and was often ung on convivial occasions. It is said that at one time, at Knoxville in our county, when some good news that caused universal rejoicing had been received, the court was adjourned, and judge, lawyers, jury, spectators, paraded around the public square singing, 'De ol' black bull kera down de meddcr.' It must l>e remembered that this was before the days of brass bands and other artificial contrivances for giving expression to tumultuous feeling."
HOOSEN JOHNNY
1 De little black bull kem down de medder,
Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny.
De little black bull kem down de medder,
Long time ago.
Chorus: Long time ago, long time ago,
De little black bull kem down de medder,
Long time ago.
Fust he paw and den he beller,
Hoosen Johnny, Hoosea Johnny.
Fust he paw and den he beller,
Long time ago.
3 He whet his horn on a white oak saplin',
Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny.
He whet his horn on a white oak saplin',
Long time ago.
4 He shake his tail, he jar de ribber,
Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny.
He shake his tail, he jar de ribber,
Long time ago.
5 He paw de dirt in de heifers' faces,
Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny.
He paw de dirt in de heifers' faces,
Long time ago.
MY PRETTY LITTLE PINK
A dance song known in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois became a knapsack and marching tune with Mexican War references* . . . The line patrolled was about 2500 miles, from Santa Fe to Vera Cruz; young men, volunteers mostly, filled the ranks; they were a long ways from home and needed a quickstep tune with a don't-care lyric. . . . The first verse and melody are from Lillian K. Rickaby of Riverside, California, as she heard them when a girl in Galesburg, Illinois; the other two verses are from Neeta Marquis of Los Angeles as learned by her mother in Kentucky in the late 1840's.
1 My pretty little Pink, I once did think
That you and I would many.
But now I've lost all hopes of you,
And I have no time to tarry.
2 I'll take my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder,
And I'll march away to the Rio Grande,
To view the forest over;
8 Where coffee grows on white oak trees,
And the river flows with brandy,
Where the girls are sweet as sweet can be
And the boys like sugar candy,
LINCOLN AND LIBERTY
This campaign ditty of 1860 has the brag and extravaganza of electioneering. The tune is from "Old Rosin the Bow" and served earlier for a Henry Clay candidacy in which was the salutation:
So, freemen, come on to the rally,
This motto emblazons your crest:
That lone star of Hope yet is shining,
It lightens the skies in the West.
Hark! freedom peals far in her thunder,
Her lightning no force can arrest,
She drives the foul army asunder.
"Hail, gallant old Hal of the West!"
In a later year when Horace Greeley was running for the Presidency against Gen. U. S. Grant, voters were reminded, "Then let Greeley go to the dickens, too soon he has counted his chickens."
1 Hurrah for the choice of the nation!
Our chieftain so brave and so true;
We'll go for the great reformation,
For Lincoln and Liberty too.
We'll go for the Son of Kentucky,
The hero of Hoosierdom through;
The pride of the Suckers so lucky,
For Lincoln and Liberty too.
2 They'll find what by felling and mauling,
Our rail-maker statesman can do;
For the people are everywhere calling
For Lincoln and Liberty too.
Then up with our banner so glorious,
The star-spangled red, white and blue,
We'll fight till our banner is victorious,
For Lincoln and Liberty too.
OLD ABE LINCOLN CAME OUT OF THE WILDERNESS
Torchlight processions of Republicans sang this in the summer and fall months of 1800. The young Wide Awakes burbled it as the kerosene dripped on their blue oilcloth capes. Quartets and octettes jubilated with it in packed, smoky halls where audiences waited for speakers of the evening. In Springfield, Illinois, the Tall Man who was a candidate for the presidency of the nation, heard his two boys Tad and Willie, sing it at him. The tune is from negro spirituals, When I Come Out De Wilderness and 01' Gray Mare Come Tearin' Out De Wilderness.
Old Aln; Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness,
Old Abe Lincoln cuine out of the wilderness,
Down in Illinois.