The Oxford Merchant- Ford (WI-CA) 1938 Cowell
["The Oxford Merchant" is a unique title from a Child 283 variant. It was sung by Warde H. Ford in 1938, who probably learned it in Wisconsin. Recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell in California- here are Cowell's performer notes:
Warde H. Ford Warde Ford was member of the Ford-Walker family of singers. In the liner notes to Wolf River Songs [Folkways 1956], Sidney Robertson Cowell estimated the family's repertory included about 140 titles, "some comparatively rare Childs ballads, lumber camp ballads and songs of the sea, along with many love songs, (most of them not long from Ireland ), ditties made up to suit special occasions, and stage and minstrel songs.
Ford began recording for the government in 1937 while working in the northwoods of Wisconsin . He had moved to Crandon from New York State and spent until his 30s as a woodsman. He had a keen memory and could sometimes recite a song after hearing it only once. Robertson's 1937 recordings of Ford would mark the beginning of a fifteen-year folksong relationship that would go on at intervals in Wisconsin , California , and in Berlin , Germany . Robertson estimates that she recorded around 200 songs from Ford, at least two-thirds of them long ballads about historical events.
In the late 1930s he moved to California with his family to work on the Shasta Dam, and in the mid-1940s he joined the Army. In Wolf River Songs , Cowell writes that Ford has occasionally sung popular songs with a crowd or with a guitar-playing friend, but when he sings the family songs, he sings alone and unaccompanied. This is a wholly vocal tradition, not an instrumental one.
THE CRAFTY FARMER (Child No. 283)
["The Oxford Merchant." Sung by Warde H. Ford, Central Valley, California, December 26, 1938. Recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell.]
The version of this ballad admitted by Child into his collection (No. 283) is prefaced in the abridged edition by a single sentence: "This very ordinary ballad has enjoyed great popularity, and is given for that reason and as a specimen of its class." There must be some special appeal in a ballad which "has enjoyed great popularity" for more than a century; and perhaps in this case it is a sort of simple childlike happiness, the quality of a story in which all turns out surprisingly well, against odds not too alarming but sufficient to elicit an anxious concern in the listener. The prosaic text, careful not to omit any useful detail, moving ahead in a straight, unhurried narrative line, always making do with the expressions nearest to hand, is supported by an utterly unpretentious tune, and admirably conveyed in the work-a-day rendition of the singer, homely, unselfconscious, and comfortable. The mellifluous and very suitable refrain is there to remind us that this is indeed a song. It is impossible to hear it through without feeling better.
1. In Oxford there lived a merchant by trade
He had for his servants a man and a maid
A true Hampshire lad he had for his man
All for to do his business, his name it was John.
Laddy tell i day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
2. One morning quite early he called upon John
And Johnny heard his master and quickly did run.
"Oh take this cow and drive her to the fair
For she's in good order and her I can spare."
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
3. So Johnny took the cow and away he did go
He drove: her to the fair as far as I do know
Before the day was over he sold her to a man
Who paid him the chink Which was six pounds ten.
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
4. They went to a tavern for to get a drink
'Twas there the tradesman laid down the chink
Johnny turned to the lady and unto her did say
"Oh, what shall I do with my money, I pray?"
Laddy tell I do, tell I'day, laddy laddy tell I day.
5. "Sew it up in your coat lining," the lady did say
"For fear you will be robbed along the highway."
The highwayman sat behind him a-drinking up his wine
And said he to himself, "That money's all mine."
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
6. Then Johnny took his leave and away he did go
The highwayman followed after him as far as I do know
He overtook the lad upon the highway
"You're well overtaken, young man," said he.
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
7. "Oh jump 'on behind me, oh jump on and ride
How far are you going?" Little Johnny replied,
"About twelve miles, as far as I do know;"
And Johnny jumped a-horseback and away he did go.
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
8. They rode along together till they came to a dark lane
There the highwayman spoke up very plain;
"Deliver up your money without fear or strife,
Or in this lonesome valley you'll lose your pleasant life."
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
9. So Johnny seeing there was no time for dispute
Came down from the horse without fear or doubt
From his coat lining he pulled the money out
And in the tall grass he strewed it well about.
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
10. The highwayman suddenly got down, got down from his horse
And little did he think it was for his loss
For while he was picking the money that was thrown
Little Johnny jumped his horseback and away he did go.
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
11. The highwayman followed after him and bid him for to stay
But Johnny never minded him and still rode away
And home to his master thus he did bring
Horse, saddle, and bridle and many a fine thing.
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
12. The servant maid seeing Little Johnny's return
She went and told his master as near as I can learn
The master came out and he looked very cross
And said, "Have you turned my cow into a hoss?"
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
13. "Oh no, dearest Master, your cow I have sold,
But be robbed on the highway by a highwayman bold
And while he was picking the money in his purse
All for to make amends I came off with his horse."
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
14. The saddle bags were opened and there as I've been told
Ten thousand pounds and (sic) silver and gold
A brace of loaded pistols:--
"Oh, Master, I vow, I think for a boy I have well sold your cow."
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.
15. "Oh yes, for a boy you have done quite rare;
Two-thirds of this money you shall have for your share
And as for the villain with whom you had to fight,
I think you've played him a true Hampshire bite."
Laddy tell I day, tell I do, laddy laddy tell I day.