Vandy, Vandy- Manly Wade Wellman (NC) c.1946
[From Notes & Queries; Journal of American Folklore, 1962 by Ed Cray. Additional Notes are from Mudcat Forum.
Wellman, "Vandy, Vandy," 108. Two notes have appeared about the ballad "Vandy, Vandy" — by Ed Cray and Arthur Palmer Hudson. See journal of American folklore, LXXIII (1960), 154-156, and LXXV (1962), 59-61.
This is a hybrid version from Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986) of North Carolina- only the last stanza is from Drowsy Sleeper. It is somewhat similar to two other versions: 1) "Hattie Belle" MS from Greer Collection before 1932; hybrid version of "A Sweetheart in the Army" and 2) "Annie Girl" Hudson JAF, 1926.
R. Matteson 2016]
VANDY, VANDY:- The "John Riley" or disguised lover's return ballads are numerous in American tradition both in variants and wide geographic spread.[1] However previous workers do not report what seems to be a unique member of the family, "Vandy, Vandy." I have two parallel versions from widely separate sources but as the ballad now stands, the text remains fragmentary.
Vandy, Vandy, I've come for to court you;
Be you rich or be you poor.
An[2] you will kindly entertain me
I will love you forever more.
Vandy, Vandy, I've a horse and carriage.
Vandy, Vandy, I've a house and land.
Come with me to my world of pleasure;
I will make you a handsome man.
"I have a love gone in the Army;
He's been gone some seven long year.
An he stays for seven year longer
I would await him only here.
"What care I for your horse and carriage?
What care I for your house and land?
What care I for your world and pleasures?
I'll but await here while I can."
Then when he saw that she loved him truly,
He gave her kisses one, two and three,
Saying, "It is I, your long lost lover,
Won't you come away with me?"
Wake up, wake up, the dawn is breaking;
Wake up, wake up, it's almost day.
Throw back your doors and your divers windows,
See my true love march away.[3]
The fifth stanza specifically links "Vandy" with the disguised lover's return cycle, though the balance of the verses are borrowed from songs outside of the tradition and are not normally thought to be a part of this cycle.
The first line of the song, for instance, plus stanzas two and four can be found in "All of Her Answers to Me Were No," [4] and the offer-response pattern of stanzas two and four is also present in "The Quaker's Wooing." The fifth stanza is from "John Riley II" (Laws N 37). The audabe-like sixth stanza is probably intrusive-most likely borrowed from "The Drowsy Sleeper."
Some few years after first learning the song, the same singer learned an additional verse in Los Angeles in 1952:
I've got a love who is in the Army,
He's gone with King Washington.
He'll be away till George is dead
And until my freedom's won."
The singer (and his informant) cannot be certain of the placement of the stanza but feel certain that it does belong with the song. Arbitrarily, the singer has been replacing the third stanza in the above version, or singing this additional verse
immediately after it.
The only printed version comes from a short story by Manly Wade Wellman, "Vandy, Vandy." [5] Wellman's parallel is from the Sandy Pine country of Moore County, North Carolina. Further sources, especially collectanea, and similar songs would be appreciated.
NOTES by Cray
1 See G. Malcolm Laws, American Ballads from British Broadsides (Philadelphia, 1957), pp. 217 ff. Laws has identified sixteen different ballads on the theme of the disguised lover's return, though many of them borrow rather freely from each other. The most popular seem to be "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (N 35), "John Riley" I and II (N 36 and 37), "The Banks of Claudy" (N 40) and "Pretty Fair Maid" (N 42).
2 Archaic form of if.
3 As sung by Ed Michel, Los Angeles, 1957, learned in Chicago "about twelve or fourteen years ago as a little tad." Michel is a trained musician and has studied folk music for a number of years. Whatever doubts one might have about the authenticity of the song due to its urban source should be dispelled by Michel's knowledge and assurance that the song was learned from Courting and Complaint, Folkways Long Playing Record FP 49, c. 1957.
5 Elon Feiner, Los Angeles, supplied me with the Wellman version printed in The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, eds. Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas, 3rd Series (New York, 1954). Wellman included a footnote to his story stating that this was exactly the way he had heard the song and asked his readers for any additional stanzas and information.
ED CRAY
Los Angeles, California
_____________________________
Sandy Paton: Wellman, by the way, was a friend of Obray Ramsey, Byard Ray, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, and other North Carolina traditional artists.
Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Wellman wrote a 1953 short story titled Vandy, Vandy, and the song text was apparently included in the story. From 1953 booklet entitled "The BEST from FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION: third series:"
"The Song, Vandy Vandy, was discovered by Mr. Wellman back in the sandy pine country of Moore County, North Carolina, and, to the best of his knowledge, has never been published anywhere before. From it's archaic scale-pattern and reference to the soldier gone 'seven long year' Mr Wellman is convinced the ballad refers to the American Revolution, allthough we can find no corroborative evidence for that theory. Mr. Wellman further remarks that he has never heard the name Vandy, or any name for which it might be a nickname, although the old lady who taught him the song said that her aunt was named Vandy. Since our sketchy preliminary research gives no data whatsoever either on the song or the name of its lovely heroine , we join Mr. Wellman in inviting reader comment on these matters."
According to Bob Coltman: I wrote it (the melody).
Found it in the John story and was entranced. Of course it's related to "Drowsy Sleeper," but that version is unique to Manly Wade Wellman's story.
Around 1960 I was singing it to my old friend Jim Butler, who knew Manly Wade Wellman. He said my tune was close to the one Wellman himself sang -- collected, he told me, in the Southern mountains and a real traditional song. Not exactly alike, but similar.
Jim gave me the refrain, which does not appear in the story, and I added it, tune and words, to my version.
For I love you, and I can't help it,
Oh, yes I do.
I sang this around a lot in the 60s, but didn't record it until 1971, on my first Minstrel Records LP. Got a lot of interest -- even John Fahey called me up and wanted to know how I had done the three-finger banjo part.
Yes, other melodies have been written -- understandably, as the song on the printed page is just dying to be sung. But mine was, as far as I know, the first time it was set to music by anyone apart from Wellman. Picking a verse at random, based on A minor scale, here's an ABC of my tune:
E D E A'-- E G G E-D C---
Vandy, Vandy, I've come to court you,
E D E A'-- G B'-A' G D---
Vandy, Vandy, it's almost day,
E E E E A'-- E E G A' E-D C---
Open up your doors and your divers windows,
A C E-- C D .B A---
See your true love march away.
CHORUS
G C C A G C C A-.B .E
For I love you, and I can't help it,
E A B A