John W. Green - evergreentrad

Down in a Salley Garden

It was down in a salley garden where me and my true love did meet.
I took her in my arrums and embraced her with kisses sweet,
Saying, “Love, tell me the reason Oh why you were so severe.
You must have some other suitor that’s more pleasing to your mind than me.”

Chorus:
And it’s not the time to go, boys, for to go my boys, to go away.
It’s not the time to go, brave boys, we’ll boast about it until day.

Well I called for a bottle of brandy for to drink in my true love’s company,
But she felt so proud and sassy she would not take one drop from me.
She bade me take love easy and not be so severe.
She bade me take love easy like the dew drops falling off yonder trees.

Chorus

Oh landlady, my darling, come fill us one bottle with speed.
I will pay you to a farthing, my darling indeed, indeed.
I will pay you to a farthing, my darling indeed, indeed,
Here’s a health to all my sweethearts who cause my poor heart to bleed.

Chorus

Oh once I had the money plenty even when I roamed about,
But now my pockets are empty and most of my credit’s out.
(skip 2^nd half of verse melody)

Last Chorus:
And now’s the time to go, boys, for to go my boys, to go away.
Oh now’s the time to go, brave boys. We’ll boast no more
[spoken:] it’s breaking day.
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I had an amazing week researching traditional songs collected in the Upper Midwest at the American Folklife Center in Washington, DC at the end of last month. This month’s song comes from the AFC’s incredible holdings of material collected in Beaver Island, Michigan. Beaver Island was once a stronghold of Irish traditional song thanks to a high concentration of families with roots in the island of Arranmore, County Donegal (see N.S. Apr. 2013).

The AFC has two sets of recordings made on Beaver Island: one was made in 1938 by Alan Lomax, the other was made in 1940 by Ivan Walton. Both collecting trips focused on largely on one singer, John W. Green (1871-1964), who had a remarkable repertoire of over 200 songs. Green sang “Down in a Salley Garden” for both collectors and the above transcription is a composite of the two versions as sung by Green. Green’s singing is characterized by very short phrases and odd breaks that may have resulted from him being short of breath. Still, I like the effect in some spots and marked all the breaks in my transcription.

Though the song does share some poetry with the more famous “Sally Gardens” song, it is quite different in both form (it has a chorus) and sentiment.

The Smugglers of Buffalo

It was the 6th of Aperil as I lay on my bed,
And thinking of the sorrows that crowned my aching head.
And surrounded I was by officers, and with them I was forced for to go,
For to serve a long and dreary trip to the jails of Buffalo

Then I’ve done my task and got pardoned and once more I am free
And I went down to Sandusky my true love for to see.
But perhaps, my boys, she will give me the bounce when she does a-come to know
That I led a gang of smugglers to the jails of Buffalo.

Oh this girl she came from Patterson, the truth to you I will tell
She was an only daughter and her parents loved her well
They brought her up in the fear of the Lord but little did she know
That she was married to a smuggler who served time in Buffalo

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This month we step away from the songs of Irish-Minnesotan Mike Dean for a visit to one of the most fascinating (and musical) Irish settlements in the Great Lakes region: Beaver Island, Michigan. Situated in the center of the northern end of Lake Michigan, Beaver Island’s stranger-than-fiction history is far too colorful to fully convey in this space. In 1851 it was taken over by self-proclaimed Mormon king James Strang and his followers. In 1856 Strang was assassinated (by Mormons on the island) and a group of Irish fishermen, primarily from County Donegal, quickly drove the remaining Latter Day Saints off the island and established a tight-knit community whose isolation made it one of the last great rural strongholds of Irish folk culture in North America.

I transcribed the above song from a field recording made of Beaver Island singer John W. Green (1871-1964) in 1938 by Ivan Walton and Alan Lomax. John W. Green’s parents were Daniel “White Dan” Green and Bridget O’Donnell, both born on the island of Arranmore, County Donegal. Like many Island men of his generation, John Green was a fisherman by summer and a lumberman by winter who knew well over 100 songs, many learned from his musical family members.

Green was frustrated at the time of the recording that he could only recall three verses to “The Smugglers of Buffalo.” He does not say, on the recording, what contraband might have been smuggled in the song but the fact that the singer’s head is aching might give some indication!

References:

Biographical History of Northern Michigan, 1905.

“Detnews.com | Michigan History.” Accessed March 20, 2013.

“RootsWeb: IRL-ARRANMORE-L [IRL-ARRANMORE-L] Aran/Beaver Is Green.” Accessed March 20, 2013.

Walton, Ivan H, with Joe Grimm; illustrated by Loudon G. Wilson; musical scores by Lee Murdock. Windjammers : Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2002.