21 Nov

Learning McFadden to Waltz

Clarence McFadden he wanted to waltz,
But his feet were not gaited that way,
So he saw a professor and stated his case,
And said he was willing to pay;
The professor looked down in alarm at his feet,
And he viewed their enormous expanse,
So he tucked on a five to his regular price,
For learning McFadden to dance.

One, two, three, just balance like me,
You’re quite a fairy, but you have your faults,
While your left foot is lazy, your right foot is crazy,
Now don’t be unaisy, I’ll learn you to waltz.


He took out McFadden before the whole class,
And he showed him the step once or twice,
But McFadden’s two feet they got tied in a knot,
Sure he thought he was standing on ice;
At last he got loose and struck out with a will,
Never looking behind or before,
But his head got so dizzy, he fell on his face,
And chewed all the wax off the floor.

When Clarence had practiced the step for awhile,
Sure, he thought he had got it down fine,
He went to a girl and asked her to dance,
And he wheeled her out into line;
He walked on her feet and he fractured her toes,
And vowed that her movements were false,
Poor girl went around for two weeks on a crutch,
For learning McFadden to waltz.

McFadden soon got the step into his head,
But it would not go into his feet,
He hummed “Maggie Murphy” from morning to night,
And he counted his steps on the street;
One night he went home to his room to retire,
After painting the town a bright red,
He dreamed he was waltzing and let out his leg,
And kicked the footboards off the bed.

Song collector Margaret MacArthur extended the amazing work of Helen Flanders with her collecting work in Vermont in the 1960s. I came upon this Irish music hall gem in amongst the digitized MacArthur recordings available through the Vermont Folklife Center. She recorded it from Winfred Landman of Brattleboro in 1963. Another more complete version (without its melody) appears in Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan from the singing of Mrs. John Lambertson of Belding, Michigan just northeast of Grand Rapids who sang it for collectors Gardner and Chickering in 1931.

The earliest printing of the music hall original from 1890 lists M.F. Carey as its composer and is viewable online through the New York Public Library digital collection. In addition to entering into folk tradition, the song was recorded by several artists and was even sung by child star Shirley Temple in the 1939 film Susannah and the Mounties as she tries to teach a mountie to dance with a book balanced on his head!

My transcription above is a blend of the Lambertson text, the original song sheet and a rousing recording of Irish entertainer Patrick Kavanagh (no relation to the author?) who recorded it on a 78rpm record in the 30s.

13 May

The Gallagher Boys

Come all brother sailors I hope you’ll draw nigh,
For to hear of the sad news, it will cause you to cry,
Of noble Johnny Gallagher, who sailed to and fro,
He was lost on Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

It was in October in seventy three,
We left Beaver harbor and had a calm sea,
Bound away to Traverse City, our destination to go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

We left Traverse City at nine the next day
And down to Elk Rapids we then bore our way,
We took in our store and to sea we did go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

At nine that same night a light we did spy,
That is Beaver Island, we are drawing nigh,
We carried all sails, the Lookout, she did go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

Oh Johnny got up and he spoke to his crew,
He says, “My brave boys, now be steady and true,
Stand by your fore halyards, let your main halyards to,
There’s a squall on Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.”

The Lookout’s she’s a-runnin’ before a hard gale.
Upset went her rudder and overboard went her sail,
The billows were foaming like mountains of snow.
We shall ne’er cross Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

Says Owen, “Brother Johnny, it grieves my heart sore,
To think we will never return to the shore,
God help our poor parents, their tears down will flow,
For we’ll sleep in Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.”

I am looking forward to a talk on the Irish music of Beaver Island, Michigan that I will be giving in June at the Center for Irish Music’s Minnesota Irish Music Weekend! In anticipation of that, I thought I would share song composed on Beaver Island this month: “The Gallagher Boys.”

Island singer Dominick Gallagher was six years old in 1873 when word came to the island that a boat went down in a gale while making the 70 mile return trip from a supply run to Traverse City. Dominick’s own father, Dominick Sr., had left on the same boat and was assumed to be among the lost.

“…when the news came and the report was that all hands was lost, I remember runnin’ and hangin’ around mother. I couldn’t realize what they were all cryin’ about. I had six sisters and they were all home and they were all cryin’, too. That night they had a wake and all, just as though he was there, and all the next day the neighbors came around.”
-Dominick Gallagher to Alan Lomax, 1938

(transcribed from this recording)

Miraculously, Dominick Sr. returned the next day. His friend Captain Roddy had also been in Traverse City and had convinced him not to make the crossing. Still, the Beaver Islanders who did venture out (including a Johnny Gallagher) were lost and the above song was composed shortly after by local song-maker Dan Malloy.

Above is my transcription of Dominick’s own melody and four verse text as sung for Lomax with the addition of three verses (1, 4 and 5 above) that were sung that same year by fellow Islander Johnny Green who had a much longer version of the song.

13 May

Roll Her to the Wall

As I rode out one evening down by a shady lane,
I overheard Jim Johnson, a keeper of the game,
He says unto his servant maid “If it wasn’t for the law,
I’d take you by the slender waist and roll you to the wall.”

“Hold your tongue you young man and do not bother me,
Before you lie one night with me you must get me dishes three,
Three dishes you must get for me; suppose I eat them all,
Before you’ll lie one night with me at either stock or wall.

“For my breakfast you must have a fish without a bone,
And for my dinner you must have a cherry without a stone,
And for my supper you must have a bird without a gall,
Before you lie one night with me at either stock or wall.”

“When the fish it is all in its spawn I’m sure it has no bone,
When the cherry is in blossom I’m sure it has no stone,
The dove it is a gentle bird, it flies without a gall,
So you I in one bed lie, and you lie next the wall.”

“Hold your tongue you young man and do not me perplex,
Before you lie one night with me you must answer questions six,
Six questions you must answer me if I should ask them all,
Before you lie one night with me at either stock or wall.

“What is rounder than a ring? What’s higher than a tree?
Or what is worse than womankind and deeper than the sea?
What bird flies first? What flower blooms first? Or where does the dew first fall?
Before you lie one night with me at either stock or wall.”

“The earth is rounder than a ring, heaven’s higher than a tree,
The devil is worse than womankind, hell’s deeper than the sea,
The thrush flies first, the lily blooms first and the dew on the leaves first falls,
If those questions true I’ve answered you, now you lie next the wall.”

This couple they got married and happy now do dwell,
It’s every night when they go to bed into his arms she’ll crawl,
[use melody of 4th line:] He’ll take her by the slender waist and roll her to the wall.

The collection of “English and Scottish Popular Ballads” compiled by Harvard English professor Francis James Child in the late 1800s was so comprehensive and influential that the designation “Child ballad” continues to be used today, often complete with the ballad’s “Child number.” Professor Child endeavored to limit his collection to “traditional” (i.e. older) ballads and to discard more modern creations including “come-all-ye”-type story songs. In the pine woods of the Great Lakes region, it was precisely these come-all-ye ballads, along with even newer popular forms, that made up the bulk of singers’ repertoires. Child ballads turn up in Great Lakes collections, but they are far outnumbered by these other types.

This month we have the first Child ballad that has appeared in this column. The above “Roll Her to the Wall” is my composite of two Michigan versions of Child 46: “Captain Wedderburn’s Courtship.” My primary source was Alan Lomax’s 1938 recording of Beaver Island singer Dominic Gallagher. To help the riddles make a little more sense, I borrowed some words from verses in another version collected by Gardner and Chickering from Eliza Youngs of Greenville, Michigan in 1939. As with all recordings of Gallagher (in my opinion) his plaintive and subtly ornamented singing is beautiful and worth a listen via the Library of Congress’ online archive!