Category: Song of the Month

(Now Westlin Winds)

by Robert Burns
Introduced by Andrew Calhoun

This was first published in the Kilmarnock edition of Robert Burns’ Poems: Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786. Burns’ first draft was written ten years before in 1776. Robert was then 17 and its addressee, Peggy Thomson, of Kirkoswald, was 13. Burns indicated that it was to be sung to the tune of a humorous Ayrshire ballad, “I Had A Horse, I Had Nae Mair.”

Here is the first verse of the model:

‘I had a horse, and I had nae mair,
I gat him frae my daddy;
My purse was light, and my heart was fair,
But my wit it was fu’ ready.
And sae I thought me on a time,
Outwittens of my daddy,
To see mysell to a lawland laird,
Wha had a bonny lady.’

Mr. Burns later sent his lyric to The Scots Musical Museum, indicating that it could be set to the tune, “Port Gordon.” Scholars for well over a century have taken this gesture as evidence that Burns was disaffected with his original choice, which has never been published with the lyric; but they are missing something. “I Had a Horse, I Had Nae Mair” (I Had No More) had already been published, with its tune, in the second volume of the Musical Museum, where it is song #185; James Johnson (and Burns) preferred not to repeat melodies, hence his flexibility. The tune to which this is now commonly sung is neither of those to which he assigned it. Robert Burns is unique among major poets of his time in composing to melodies; he played fiddle, and needed to become deeply engaged with a tune before he could write lyrics for it; he was also a major collector of traditional lyrics and tunes. I explain in the linked video why this particular tune is of inseparable artistic importance to this particular lyric.

Burns borrows phrases freely from Alexander Pope’s poem, “Windsor Forest,” from these lines written in 1704:

See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs,
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings…

With slaught’ring guns th’ unwearied fowler roves…
Where doves in flocks the leafless trees o’er-shade,
And lonely woodcocks haunt the wat’ry glade.

Burns’ punctuation is as distinctively expressive as Emily Dickinson’s. An example is “all fading-green and yellow.” With the hyphen, only the green is fading, and the yellow stands out. This can be suggested by the singer, with a pause.

Here’s a version by Sheena Wellington, which showcases some of the birds mentioned.

Lyrics:

Note: Some of the words Burns uses may be unfamiliar – they translate as:
Westlin – western
Moorcock – grouse
Cushat – wood pigeon
Fell – level area on mountain
Hern – heron

Now westlin winds, and slaught’ring guns
Bring Autumn’s pleasant weather;
The moorcock springs, on whirring wings,
Amang the blooming heather:
Now waving grain, wide o’er the plain,
Delights the weary Farmer;
The moon shines bright, as I rove at night,
To muse upon my Charmer.

The Partridge loves the fruitful fells;
The Plover loves the mountains;
The Woodcock haunts the lonely dells;
The soaring Hern the fountains:
Through lofty groves, the Cushat roves,
The path o’ man to shun it;
The hazel bush o’erhangs the Thrush,
The spreading thorn the Linnet.

Thus every kind their pleasure find,
The savage and the tender;
Some social join, and leagues combine;
Some solitary wander:
Avaunt, away! the cruel sway,
Tyrannic man’s dominion;
The Sportsman’s joy, the murd’ring cry,
The flutt’ring, gory pinion!

But Peggy dear, the evening ‘s clear,
Thick flies the skimming Swallow;
The sky is blue, the fields in view,
All fading-green and yellow:
Come let us stray our gladsome way,
And view the charms o’ Nature;
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn,
And every happy creature.

We’ll gently walk, and sweetly talk,
While the silent moon shines clearly;
I’ll clasp thy waist, and fondly prest,
Swear how I love thee dearly:
Not vernal show’rs to budding flow’rs,
Not Autumn to the Farmer,
So dear can be, as thou to me,
My fair, my lovely Charmer!

And there, upon a mark of blood,
his brother he has slain.
See the widow tear her hair.
Hear her mournful wail;
Beware the lonely hunter’s fate
that makes her weep and rail.
Feel the lonesome summer’s wind.
Hear its mournful cry.
There’s many a youth whose life was spent,
all on the mountains high.

Andrew Calhoun is a gigging singer-songwriter/folk artist since 1975. He’s founder and president of Waterbug Records, Inc. since 1992. In 2012 he received the Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance Region Midwest; in 2014, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Woodstock Folk Festival. He’s currently (2017) at work on a Robert Burns songbook called Glorious Work, which will have 173 songs with background, translations and musical arrangements.

Introduced by Mark Gilston

This song was “gifted” to me by Ben Mendel from New York City in the late 1970’s. He told me he learned it from Bob Beers and that it was originally from Montana. I have been unable to find any other recorded sources or versions, though my understanding is that the huge evil cervine premonition of death is a legend in the northwestern states and in southwestern Canada. It certainly is a wonderfully eerie song, and I always included it in concerts around Halloween.

Listen to Mark sing the tune:

Lyrics:

It was a lonely summer’s day. Two brothers, they did go
To labor in the stony field, some harvest for to mow.

All in a row the three did reap: the lonely farmer’s wife,
And last of all the eldest son did wield the mighty knife

They scarce had followed once around, when in the clearing stood
The specter of a devil buck come bounding through the wood.

His eye did burn with evil, and his horn was dark with moss;
And on his mighty whistle side, they saw the bloody cross.

Now the brothers, they did shun the field, and threw away the blade;
And there, betwixt the two of them, a bitter oath was made.

“Oh, I will take the mountains high, and you, the river west;
And ere the sun does set again, we’ll snare him in his nest.”

And, oh, the widow tore her hair all on the farmer’s grave,
For it was this dreadful wicked beast did make her weep and rave.

Now the youngest one he did go west, but took the rise instead.
And there he spied the devil buck a-standing in his bed.

Oh he did waver in his spell, and trembled to the ground;
But with a sick and fevered eye, his bloody mark, he found.

The air was torn with thunder, as he took his dreadful aim.
And there, upon a mark of blood, his brother he has slain.

See the widow tear her hair. Hear her mournful wail;
Beware the lonely hunter’s fate that makes her weep and rail.

Feel the lonesome summer’s wind. Hear its mournful cry.
There’s many a youth whose life was spent, all on the mountains high.

Mark Gilston was born and raised in New York City. Both of his parents were steeped in the folk music revival scene of the 1950’s. He grew up listening to 78’s and LP’s of American, Russian, Spanish, Caribbean and Israeli folk music. Learning guitar and taking piano lessons starting at age 5, he was constantly immersed in music. In his youth, Mark gained a love of traditional American ballads and Old-Time songs and instrumentals from recordings and from his father, who often sang the old ballads which he had learned in his youth in Appalachia.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Folklore, Mark went to graduate school at SUNY Binghamton studying ethnomusicology and ended up settling there until 1994.

Mark has been giving concerts and leading workshops since 1971. He interned at the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song, and has worked as a researcher for Alan Lomax. He has published numerous articles and books on music and folklore. Mark is also a multi-instrumentalist with an international reputation in English concertina and mountain dulcimer. He won the prestigious National Mountain Dulcimer Championship in 2016. Mark has 14 CDs on the Ramble Creek and Creative Engineering labels. “Devil Buck” is on Mark’s debut CD, “It Would Sure Be a Miracle.”

Introduced by Matthew Byrne

Variant of a traditional ballad called “The Lumber Camp Song” found all over northeastern North America. Evidence collected on its background suggests a New Brunswick or Maine origin. This variant was arranged and recorded by Jim Payne & Fergus O’Byrne on their 1995 album Wave Over Wave: Old And New Songs Of Atlantic Canada (SingSong Inc). A very similar variant was collected in 1959 from Martin Deveau of Upper Ferry, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published as Hurling Down The Pine in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.750-751, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.

Listen to Jim Payne & Fergus O’Byrne sing the tune:

Lyrics:

Come all you jolly fellows, come listen to me song,
It’s all about the lumber boys and how they get along;
A crowd of jolly good fellows as ever you may find,
It’s how they spend their winter months in hurling down the pine.

Chorus:

Snap crack goes me whip, I whistle and I sing,
I jumps up on me double sled so happy as a king;
Me horse is always ready, and I am never sad,
There’s no one here so happy as a double sledder lad.

At four o’clock in the morning the boss he will shout:
“Arise all ye teamsters, it’s time that ye are out!”
Those teamsters they all get up in a frightened way:
“O where are me shoes and pants? Me socks are gone astray!”

The next to get up are the choppers, their socks they cannot find,
They blame it on the teamsters and swear it with all their mind;
Some other man might have them on and him be very near,
We’ll pass it off all as a joke and have a hearty cheer.

Chorus

Six o’clock is breakfast and every man is out,
And every man if he’s not sick, he’s sure to be on the route;
Oh, you should hear those axes ring until the sun goes down,
“Hurry me boys! the day is o’er, a-shanty we are bound.”

We all arrive at the shanty, cold hands and wet feet,
We then pull off our logans, our supper for to eat;
We’ll sing and dance till nine o’clock and to our bunks we’ll climb,
I’m sure those months don’t seem so long in hurling down the pine.

Chorus

The sawyers and choppers they lay the timber low,
The teamsters and the swampers drag them to and fro;
The next to come in are the loaders, all at the break of day:
“Load up your sleds five hundred feet, to the riverside away!”

Springtime will roll around, our boss he will say:
“Heave up your saws and axes, boys, and help to clear the way;
The floating ice it is all gone and business has arrived,
Two hundred able-bodied men are wanted on the drive.”

Chorus

Springtime will roll around, and glad will be the day,
When fellows who left their girls at home will wander back that way;
And now me song is ended and don’t you think it’s true?
And if you doubt one word of it, just ask one of the crew.

Chorus (x2)

Matthew Byrne is a traditional singer from St. John’s, Newfoundland, with a lineage of singing and song-finding that runs deep into Placentia Bay. Since bursting on to the trad scene in 2010 with his debut recording, Ballads, Matthew has swiftly earned his place as one of Canada’s most authentic and vital traditional voices. In that time, Matthew’s music has traveled well beyond the rugged shores of his homeland. His role as singer and song-finder in The Dardanelles has brought him to many major international festival stages. Matthew is currently completing his third full-length solo recording, Horizon Lines, which was released in August 2017. His 2015 release, Hearts & Heroes, won “Traditional Album of the Year” at the 2015 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Introduced by Lisa Null

The version I sing of “Sweet William’s Ghost” (Child #77) is based on the singing of Mike Kent of Cape Broyle Newfoundland. It was collected as “Lady Margaret” in 1951 by Kenneth Peacock in Songs of the Newfoundland Outports, vol 2. I love the way it deals with the continuance of love and commitment after death. William has to be relieved of the promise he made to marry Margaret who follows him over the hills walking and talking, even asking if she can be buried with him. It’s an old ballad, appearing in Allan Ramsay’s The Tea Table Miscellany (1740) and Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). Bill Shute accompanies this song on a guitar played like a hammered dulcimer.

Listen to Bill and Lisa sing the song on this YouTube clip:

Lyrics:

Lady Margaret was sitting in her own lone home
Made of lime and stone
Lady Margaret was sitting in her own lone home
When she heard a dead man moan.

“Oh is it my father, Lord Thomas,” she said
“Or is it my brother John?
“Or is it my true love, Sweet William,”
“From Scotland home has come?”

” ‘Tis not your father, Lord Thomas,” he said
“Nor is it you brother John?”
“But it is your true love, Sweet William,
“From Scotland home has come.”

“Did you bring to me any diamonds or pearls?
“Did you bring to me any ring?
“Did you bring to me any token at all
“That a true love ought to bring?”

“I have brought to you no diamonds or pearls
“I’ve brought to you no ring
“But I’ve brought to you my white winding sheet
“That my body was buried in.”

“Oh love where are your red rosy cheeks
“That oft times once did bloom?”
“Oh they now are rotten and they will be forgotten
“By the love I lost so soon.”

He took her by the lily-white hand
And bid him company
He took her by the middle so small
Saying “Follow, follow me.”

She lifted her underskirts one by one
Just about the knee
She went over the hills on a cold winter’s night
In a dead man’s company.

They walked and they talked alone together
Till the cocks began to crow
“O it’s time for the dead and the living to part
“Lady Margaret I must go,”

“Is there any room at your head?” she said
“Is there any room at your feet?”
“Is there any room all about your sides
“Where I might lie down and sleep?”

“My father is at my head,” he said
“My mother is at my feet
“And there’s three hell hounds all about my sides
“Where I would lie down and sleep.”

“One is for my drunkenness
One is for my pride
And one is for promising a fair, pretty maid
That she might be my bride

She took a cross all from her bosom
And smoted him upon the breast
Saying “Here is a token for you, Sweet William,
“God grant you a happy night’s rest.”

“I am grateful to you, Lady Margaret,” he said
“I’m grateful unto you;
“If the dead they are bound to pray for the living
Then I’m bound to pray for you.”

“When will we meet?” Lady Margaret she said
“When will we meet?” said she
“Well I hope the very next time we do meet
“In heaven we both shall be.”

Lisa Null co-founded Green Linnet Records with Pat Sky about 1972. She toured widely in England, Canada, and the United States with guitarist Bill Shute, former lead rock guitarist of “Fifth Estate.” An associate lecturer at Georgetown University, she taught all aspects of music’s relationship to American history. She has three albums available through Folk-Legacy Records: “Sweet William’s Ghost” can be found on her ballad album, “Bill Shute & Lisa Null: The Feathered Maiden.”

Introduced by Ian Robb

I first heard this “unbroken token” ballad from a young St. John’s singer, Ellen Power, then in her teens, at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. Asking around, I discovered that the song had come from singer and accordion player Dorman Ralph, of Little Harbour Deep, White Bay, Newfoundland, who lived in St John’s from 1956 until his death in 1999.

I was attracted to the song for two reasons: Firstly, I loved the denouement, when not only do the long parted lovers fall into each other’s arms, but “both sat down to sing…” Secondly, I was intrigued by the melody, which is a version of that collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams from Harriet Verrall, in Monk’s Gate, Sussex, and to which he set John Bunyan’s poem “To Be a Pilgrim,” creating one of the best known English hymns. On the English folk scene, the tune is mostly associated with Mrs Verrall’s song “Our Captain Cried All Hands” and with a version of “A Blacksmith Courted Me,” but despite the fact that the text of “Welcome Home My Sailor” is known in England, sung and recorded by no less than Lal Waterson and later, Eliza Carthy, the tune used is quite different.

The words here are as I sing it, mostly from Jim Payne and Fergus O’Byrne’s version on their CD, How Good is Me Life, with some inevitable minor tinkering.

Here are Jim Payne and Fergus O’Byrne singing the song:

Lyrics, from Jim Payne, who had it from Dorman Ralph, White Bay, NL:

One night as I walked out, it being dark all over
The moon gave out no light, I could scarce discover
Down by a briny beach where ships were sailing,
A comely maid I spied, weeping and wailing.

I boldly stepped to her and I asked what grieved her,
The answer that she gave was none could relieve her,
“My own true love’s last prayer was to cross the ocean
My heart is like the wave, always in motion.”

I said, “My fair young maid, mark well my story
For your true love and I fought for England’s glory
By one unlucky shot he from me was parted,
And by our foe’s last shot, died broken hearted.

He said before he died that his heart was broken
‘I’ll give you my gold ring, take it as a token
Give it to my true love — there is none who’s fairer —
And tell her to prove true, and wed the bearer’.”

And when she heard these words, she fell distracted
She knew not how she felt, nor how she acted
She wrang and tore her hair, like one in anger,
“Young man you’ve come too late, I’ll wed no stranger.”

And when I heard these words, my love grew stronger
I fell into her arms, I could stay no longer
We both sat down to sing, and she sang clearest
Like a nightingale she sang, “Welcome home my dearest.”

She sang, “God bless the wind that blew you over,”
She sang, “God bless the ship that brought you over,”
She sang, “God bless the waves that tossed you over,”
Like a nightingale she sang, “Welcome home my sailor.”

Recorded versions:
Dorman Ralph, from his eponymous CD, released in 1999.
Jim Payne and Fergus O’Byrne, from their 2005 CD, How Good is Me Life.
Both are available from Singsong Inc.

Ian Robb is a singer, concertina player and occasional “writer of old songs,” who lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Introduced by Dick Swain

This wonderful song was introduced to most people by Joe Hickerson on his recording, Drive Dull Care Away, Vol. 1, Folk Legacy Records, FSI-58. It was collected on Prince Edward Island from Charles Gorman by folklorist Edward (Sandy) Ives, and published in his book,Drive Dull Care Away: Folksongs from Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Institute for Island Studies 1999, pp. 81-82. The book includes a CD with a field recording of Charles Gorman singing the song. In the late 18th and early 19th century it appeared in broadsides and a number of songsters under the titles “Contentment” or “The Friendly Society.” In the notes to his recording, Joe Hickerson says that an untitled version of the song was published in the September 30, 1775 issue of The Pennsylvania Ledger; or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania & New Jersey Weekly Advertiser, and included the refrain, “Let us then constant be / For while we’re here / My friends so dear / We’ll fight for liberty.”

Listen to John Roberts and Debra Cowan sing the song in this YouTube video:

Lyrics:

Oh, why should we our lot complain
Or grieve at our distress?
Some think if they could riches gain
T’would be true happiness
But alas how vain is all their strife
So while we’re here with our friends so dear
We’ll drive dull care away:

Chorus:
Away, away, away, away
We will drive dull care away
So while we’re here with our friends so dear
We’ll drive dull care away.

Why should the rich despise the poor?
Why should the poor repine?
When we will all in a few short years
In equal friendship join
They’re both to blame, they’re all the same
We are all made of one clay,
So while we’re here with our friends so dear
We’ll drive dull care away:

[Chorus]

We’ll drive dull care away:

[Chorus]

So let us make the best of life
Not rendering it a curse
But take it as you would a wife
For better or for worse
Life at its best is but a jest
Like a dreary winter’s day
So while we’re here with our friends so dear
We’ll drive dull care away:

[Chorus]

The following verse appears under the title “The Friendly Society” with a different tune and no chorus in Spicer’s Pocket Companion, Ishmael Spicer, Connecticut Historical Society, MS, [1797?]. See Jim Douglas, Contentment or The Nutmeg Songster, Sturbridge, MA, Pedlar Press, 1986.

When age, old age, comes creeping on
And we are young no more
Let’s not repine at what we’ve done
Or grieve that youth is o’re
But cheerful be as formerly
And innocently gay
And since we’re here with our friends so dear
We’ll drive dull care away

Combining his skills as a librarian with a life-long interest in folk music, Dick Swain researches and performs songs from the places he has lived and worked, including the Great Lakes Region, Pennsylvania, and Maine. He accompanied Sandy Ives on several trips to Prince Edward Island and has performed at folk festivals, museums, and libraries in the U.S. and Canada. He was Program Director of the CDSS Pinewoods Folk Music Week four times and was a staff member of the Traditional Music and Dance (TradMaD) Camp in 2017. He is especially proud that Sandy Ives signed his copy of Drive Dull Care Away with the words: “For Dick Swain, who sings the old come-all-ye’s the way they should be sung!”

Introduced by Dave Para and Cathy Barton

Ozark song collector Loman Cansler often sang this song he learned from his grandfather James Broyles, originally from Laclede County, Missouri, and he recorded it for Folkways in 1959. A variant of “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” its extended phrasing suggests a Western sound. The Civil War references are vague, but the main story remains all too relevant. “Texian” was a term used by early colonists and leaders in the Texas Revolution, many of whom were influential during the Civil War.

Watch Dave and Cathy sing the song below. You can also hear Loman Cansler sing it from his 1959 Folkways album on Spotify here.

Lyrics:

When I went for to take my leave, I thought the tears would blind me,
A’ shaking of those tender little hands of the babe I left behind me.

When I went for to take my leave, leaving all my joys,
It was all that was near and dear unto to me was left with the Texian boys.

I told my wife that the wagons were ready and the boys was a’waiting for me.
O, here’s my hand, farewell my dear, I’m going away to the army.

When this war is at an end, if the Davis boys don’t bind me
I’ll make my way straight home again to the wife and baby behind me.

Dave Para and Cathy Barton play and sing a lot of traditional music from Missouri and the Ozarks and did a couple of albums of Civil War music from Missouri with Bob Dyer. They have been members of the Missouri Folklore Society since its revival 40 years ago. Loman Cansler often attended and sang at MFS events, and Becky Schroeder helped him put his collection at Western Historical Manuscripts, State Historical Society of Missouri. Dave and Cathy recorded When I Went for to Take My Leave on their Sweet Journeys CD.

Banks of Green Willow/Bonnie Annie (trad. Child 24, arr. by Craig)
Introduced by Moira Craig

This is of the Jonah ballad form, where it is bad luck for a woman to be on board ship. In this version, the captain’s pregnant lover seems to be the cause the ship is having problems and she is thrown overboard to die! The visual images in this ballad are amazing and to me the tune represents the sounds of the sea rising and falling. The words and tune can be found in Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland.

Listen to Moira Craig singing the tune. You’ll find the song lyrics beneath the notation below.

Lyrics:

There once was a merchant and he lived in Dumbarton
And he had a daughter and her name it was Annie

And there was a merchant and he came from Strathdinning
And he’s got this bonnie lass big, big wi bairnie

Oh ye’ll tak ship wi me and ye’ll be ma hinnie
What more can women dae than I can dae for ye

Well the hadnae been sailing a week, but scarcely ony
Whe she needed women and there wernae ony

Oh captain tak gold and captain tak money
And steer for the dry land for the sake o yer bairnie

Well how can I tak gold and how can I tak money
For there’s fay folk on the ship and she willnae steer for me

Then tak me by the fingers and lift me up hooly
And cast me overboard and have nae pity on me

So he’s taen her by the fingers and lifted her up hooly
And he’s thrown her overboard though she was his ain dearie

Oh see how she swims and see how she swaggers
And she’ll no leave off swimming till she comes tae some harbour

His love she was there when he came tae the dry land
She was lying there died on the cold sea strand

And her baby was born and lying at her feet
For the loss of his bonny love sair, sair did he greet

He’s caused mak a kist o the gowden sae yellow
And there all three lie sleeping on the banks o green willow

Moira Craig was born and brought up outside of Glasgow and her home was always full of singing and music—she never thought much about it, it was normal to her. While Scottish traditional songs are her main love, she’ll sing anything at the drop of a hat and hopefully will continue to do so till the day she dies.

Introduced by David Jones

I learned this song from a recording by A. L. Lloyd, “English Street Songs,” (Riverside, issued in 1956), an LP that I found in the $1.00 bin at Alan Block’s Sandal Shop in Greenwich Village. The LP was reissued as a CD, “Ten Thousand Miles Away” (2008). I mostly use Lloyd’s words which can be found on the website “Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music.” Alongside, are Peter Bellamy’s words which are just about the same. Also on this site is a video of Peter singing the song. The song has been recorded by Roy Harris, Peter Bellamy, A. L. Lloyd, and others.

This YouTube video is an audio-only version of Peter Bellamy singing the song:

And here is another fine version by Peter Coe:

Song Notes:

A ballad of poaching, revenge, and class warfare. Based on a true incident in Yorkshire in 1769, the story is set against the background of the “Enclosure Acts” (1760-1830). The Acts, which have been called acts of theft, caused common lands to be enclosed, to the benefit of the landlords and to the detriment of the common folk. The poacher, Bill Brown, was shot by a gamekeeper for exercising what would have been his rights before the acts. The poignance of the tale is that Bill Brown, The Gamekeeper, and the story teller (the avenger), knew each other, may have been friends, yet the gamekeeper carried out the task he was paid for. He shot Bill Brown.

Lyrics from website “Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and other Good Music”

“The Death of Bill Brown” was published in Frank Kidson’s book of “Traditional Tunes.”

David Jones is a South East Londoner, born in 1934, who has been singing the old songs for many years. Earliest remembered folksongs are the “Lincolnshire Poacher” and “The Farmers Boy,” learned at school in the mid 1940s. He has sung in the USA more than anywhere else, but has made forays back to the UK, to Australia, and to parts of Europe. He has sung solo, and with a number of groups, and, on the way, has recorded several albums of folksongs. Now, he lives in Leonia, NJ, Gateway to the Golden West, with his wife Louise, and tries to be involved as much as possible with the NYC folk music scene. He has appeared in a number of NYC theater productions to favorable reviews. His last local performance was as Alfred P. Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.”

by Neville Marcano (a.k.a. Growling Tiger)
Introduced by Deborah Robins

Particularly now, this calypso song, which was widely performed in the 1950s, is, sadly, still relevant: the story of how the underclass is invisible while those with wealth can “commit murder, get off free, live in the Governor’s company…”.

I first heard this song performed on an album by the very young and wonderful Bob Gibson, a regular at my parents’ favorite local Chicago club, The Gate of Horn, and, later, by the composer, Trinidadian “Growling Tiger.”

According to Gibson, who was a friend and colleague of mine, his travels to the West Indies in the 1950s gleaned many songs which he transported to the states, “Money is King” among them. The original lyrics differ from those recorded by Gibson in 1956, with Gibson opting to replace island jargon. Alan Lomax recorded Marcano singing his signature song in 1962. See below for the original lyrics and two performances by Growling Tiger, and then below that for Gibson’s lyrics and performance.

Money is King (original lyrics)

If a man has money today
People do not care if he has cacobe [yaws, a tropical disease]
If a man has money today
People do not care if he has cacobe
He can commit murder and get off free
Live in the governor’s company
But if you are poor, people tell you “shoo”
And even dog is better than you

A man with money walks into a store
The boss will shake his hand at the door
Call ten clerks to write down everything
Suits, hats, whiskey, even diamond rings
Take them to your home on a motorbike
You can pay the bills whenever you like
And not a soul will ask you a thing
They know very well that money is king

A dog can walk about and take up bone
Foul head, stale bread, fish-tail and pone
If it’s a good breed and not too wild
Someone will take it and mind as a child
But when a hungry man goes out to beg
They will set a bulldog behind his leg
Twenty policemen will arrest him too
So you see when a dog is better than you

A man with collar and tie and waistcoat
Ask the chinaman to trust him acra and float
“Me no trus’am,” bawl out the chinaman“
You better get away from the frying pan”
“Me no college man, me no know ABC”
“You want acra, gi’am penny”
And the worms start to jump in the man’s belly
And he cries out, “A dog is better than me”

If a man have money and things going nice
Any woman will call him honey and spice
But if he can’t buy a dress or a new pair of shoes
She will say she’s got no uses for you
If you try to caress her, she will tell you “stop!”
“I can’t carry love in the grocery shop”
So most of you will agree it’s true
If you haven’t money, dog is better than you

A very rough live recording by the composer

A studio recording by the composer:

Bob Gibson’s version, link to his lyrics

Deborah Robins is an American Songster and presenter of old songs. She performs, records, and tours with husband and musical partner, the venerated Larry Hanks. She released her first solo CD, “Lone Journey,” in 2016, and is at work on a second. Larry Hanks and Deborah Robins will be on staff at the upcoming TradMaD, in August; they tour US, UK, and Canada.