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Originating in the British Islands, "Katy Cruel" was imported at an early date, possibly as early as the mid to late 1600's.  The song found popularity with the hard working immigrants.  The lyrics diversified as did the tempo of the melody. The song is showing up again in modern recordings and performances of American folk music.  The melody's tempo ranges from almost a jig or hornpipe to ballad to lament. The lyrics here were copied from The American Songbook, 1881, New York.


Katy Cruel
(Well known by early 1700's)
Traditional

When I first came to town,
They called me the roving jewel;
Now they've changed their tune,
They call me Katy Cruel,
Oh, diddle, lully day,
Oh, de little lioday.

Chorus
Oh that I was where I would be,
Then I would be where I am not,
Here I am where I must be,
Go where I would, I can not,
Oh, diddle, lully day,
Oh, de little lioday.

When I first came to town,
They brought me the bottles plenty;
Now they've changed their tune,
They bring me the bottles empty,
Oh, diddle, lully day,
Oh, de little lioday.

Chorus

I know who I love,
And I know who does love me;
I know where I'm going,
And I know whose going with me,
Oh, diddle, lully day,
Oh, de little lioday.

Chorus

Through the woods I go,
And through the bogs and mire,
Straightway down the road,
And to my heart's desire,
Oh, diddle, lully day,
Oh, de little lioday.

Chorus

Eyes as bright as coal,
Lips as bright as cherry,
and 'tis her delight
To make the young girls merry,
Oh, diddle, lully day,
Oh, de little lioday.

Chorus


Source: The American Songbook, 1881.

Katy Cruel 1
Katy Cruel
Picture
The Escape of Old John Webb
1738
Words and Lyrics: Unknown

There were nine to guard the British ranks,
and five to guard the town about,
And two to stand at either hand,
and one to let old tenor out.
There was eighty weight of good Spanish iron,
Between his neckbone and his knee,
But Billy took Johnny under his arm
And lugged him away right artfully.

Chorus:
And Billy broke locks,
And Billy broke bolts,
And Billy broke all that he came nigh,
Until he came to the dungeon door,
And that he broke right manfully.

 They mounted their horses and away did ride
(And who but they rode gallantly),
Until they came to the river bank,
And there they alighted right merrily.
And then they called for a room to dance
(And who but they danced merrily),
And the best dancer among them all
Was old John Webb who was just set free.

Chorus

Source: The American Songbook, 1881.




The Escape of Old Webb
was printed as a broadside in Boston in the 1730's.  The story is that John Webb,from Salem, Massachusetts,  was a counterfeiter who was spreading Rhode Island colony five pound notes.  The irritated British government finally located and arrested Webb and one Bill Tenor.  According to legend, an angry mob stormed the jail and freed the two.  Massachusetts had been suffering from severe cash shortages, resulting in many being tossed into debtors' prison.  The colonists were happy to accept the money as real. The false notes increased cash flow and allowed many debtors to be released from jail and also stimulated the economy, all this making Webb most popular.  Bill Tenor of the song is possibly a reference to the slang for Pound Sterling Notes was 'Old Tenor Bills of Credit.'  No real proof exists that the events occurred and so are treated as legend. However, the Boston Evening Post records years later that one John Webb had been arrested for counterfeiting but not convicted, and so let free.  The  song became a hit and remains in many song books of Colonial Era music.
Protests
Planning the rescue

Yankee Doodle


As We Learned as Kids

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni

Chorus:
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
and with the girls be handy!

Father and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Gooding
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.

Chorus And there was Captain Washington
And gentle folks about him
They say he's grown so tarnal proud
He will not ride without them.

Chorus

Source: Girls Scouts of American website.



Yankee Doodle Broadside
Broadside: Courtesy of Library of Congress

                               Yankee Doodle

As sung originally in the taverns of Philadelphia and Boston,  this rendition was well known throughout the Colonies. It was even sung, according to various accounts, during "Tavern Meetings" by members of the Continental Congress.

Source: Harvard University

Sheep's head and Vinegar
Butter Milk and Tansy [wild herbs]
Boston is a Yankee town
Sing Yankee Doodle Dandy

Chorus:
Yankee Doodle Doodle doo,
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Mind the Music and the Step,
With the Girls be handy.

Christmas is a-coming boys,
We'll go to Mother Chases,
And there we'll get a sugar drum
All sweetened with Melasses.

Chorus:

Heigh ho for our Cape Cod,
Heigh ho Nantasket
Do not let the Boston wags
Fill your oyster basket.

Chorus

Dolly Bushel let a Fart,
Jenny Jones she found it,*
Ambrose carried it to the mill **
Where Doctor Warren*** ground it.

Chorus

Two and two may go to Bed,
Two and two together,
And if there is not room enough
Lie one on top of t'other.

Chorus
* A reference to well-known prostitutes in 18th century London.
** Ambrose Serle, British author ranting against the Revolution based on his religious views.
*** A colonial hero at Bunker's Hill


As Sung by Washington's Soldiers

Fath'r and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.

Chorus
And there we saw a thousand men
As rich as Squire David,
And what they wasted every day,
I wish it could be saved.

Chorus
The 'lasses they eat it every day,
Would keep a house a winter;
They have so much, that I'll be bound,
They eat it when they've mind ter.

Chorus
And there I see a swamping gun
Large as a log of maple,
Upon a deuced little cart,
A load for father's cattle.

Chorus
And every time they shoot it off,
It takes a horn of powder,
and makes a noise like father's gun,
Only a nation louder.

Chorus
I went as nigh to one myself
As 'Siah's inderpinning;
And father went as nigh again,
I thought the deuce was in him.

Chorus
Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I shrinked it off
And hung by father's pocket.

Chorus
And Cap'n Davis had a gun,
He kind of clapt his hand on't
And stuck a crooked stabbing iron
Upon the little end on't

Chorus
And there I see a pumpkin shell
As big as mother's bason,
And every time they touched it off
They scampered like the nation.

Chorus
I see a little barrel too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked on it with little clubs
And called the folks together.

Chorus
And there was Cap'n Washington,
And gentle folks about him;
They say he's grown so 'tarnal proud
He will not ride without em'.

Chorus
He got him on his meeting clothes,
Upon a slapping stallion;
He sat the world along in rows,
In hundreds and in millions.

Chorus
The flaming ribbons in his hat,
They looked so tearing fine, ah,
I wanted dreadfully to get
To give to my Jemima.

Chorus
I see another snarl of men
A digging graves they told me,
So 'tarnal long, so 'tarnal deep,
They 'tended they should hold me.

Chorus
It scared me so, I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother's chamber.

Chorus

Source: Library of Congress






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  • Home
    • What is STORY
    • The Elements of Fiction
    • What Is A Short Story
    • Literary Theory Guide
  • Lit. 214
    • Class Presentations
  • Colonial Period
    • Native American >
      • Red Jacket's Speech
      • Story Collections
      • Lyrics, Poems and Chants
    • Spanish Explorers
    • Early Colonial >
      • New England Primer
      • Anne Bradstreet
      • Mary Rowlandson
      • John Winthrop
      • John Smith
      • Colonial Song Lyrics
    • Colonial and Revolutionary >
      • Readings >
        • Ben Franklin >
          • Advice on the Choice of a Mistress
          • Excerpts from The Autobiography
          • A Tale
        • Phyllis Wheatly >
          • Poems
        • Thomas Paine >
          • Common Sense
        • Philip Freneau >
          • Freneau Poems
        • Thomas Jefferson >
          • Writings
        • Jupiter Hammon >
          • An Evening Thought
      • Lyrics
  • Romantic Period
    • Elements of American Romanticism
    • Authors >
      • Washington Irving >
        • Irving's Place >
          • Irving's Place2
        • Irving on the Tale
        • Rip Van Winkle
        • Rip 2
        • Rip 3
        • Poetry
      • James Fenimore Cooper >
        • LOTH Silent Movie
        • Chapter 32
        • Chapter 32 B
      • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. >
        • Selected Poems
      • Ralph Waldo Emerson >
        • Selected Writings
        • Transcendentalism
      • Edgar Allen Poe >
        • Poe's Approach to Fiction
        • Life of Poe
        • Selected Poems
        • "The Raven"
        • The Black Cat
        • The Tell-Tale Heart
      • William Cullen Bryant >
        • Bryants Poems
      • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow >
        • Selected Poetry
      • Margaret Fuller
      • Fanny Fern
      • Herman Melville >
        • Moby Dick
      • Nathaniel Hawthorne >
        • Scarlett Letter Excepts
        • Young Goodman Brown
      • C. Clement Moore
    • Lyrics >
      • Folk / Gospel
      • Parlor Music
      • Music Hall
      • Stephen Foster >
        • Music
      • George Root
  • Civil War Period
    • 1850 - 1861 >
      • Harriet Anne Jacobs
      • Francis Harper
      • Frederick Douglass
      • Songs of Protest, Freedom, Sadness
    • 1861 - 1866 >
      • Julie Ward Howe
      • Emily Dickinson
      • Walt Whitman >
        • Excerpts
      • Abraham Lincoln
      • Louisa May Alcott
      • Misc. Poets
      • Warriors & Memoirs
    • Civil War Songs