"Burl Ives Presents
America's Musical Heritage"
114 Best Loved Songs & Ballads for Listening, Singing and Reading
A Treasury of American Folk Songs & Ballads
__________________________________________________
News Ballads: Reporting the American Revolution & the War of 1812
Introduction
The emotional upsurge of the Revolutionary War, the heroes of that time of crisis, the arguments that were heatedly presented on both sides, found expression in song. Some songs had their melodic origin in well-known British tunes of that day, others stemmed directly from the tradition of New England hymn singing. The songs were learned by word of mouth but they were often printed in the newspapers and broadsides of the day.
Songs of the American Revolution meant something in our country's development and mean something today. These songs are interesting, playable and singable. They are important not only for content, but for the spirit that caused them to be written.
Songs were used as a means of bringing others to the Revolutionary cause and of keeping morale high. Barlow, the Hartford poet, entering the Revolutionary Army as Chaplain, wrote: "I do not know whether I shall do more for the cause in the capacity of Chaplain, than I would in that of poet; I have great faith in the influence of songs; and I shall continue, while fulfilling the duties of my appointment, to write one now and then, and to encourage the taste for them which I find in the camp."
This tradition was still strong during the War of 1812, as songs of the time reveal. The War of 1812 was a war fought over seamen's rights. It was a war of land reverses and sea victories for America, and the songs of this war are ballads of fights at sea: "The Constitution and the Guerriere," "The Hornet and the Peacock," etc. The other songs of the war did not come until later, when there was an upsurge of patriotic feeling after the war was over. "Ye Parliaments of England" and "The Patriotic Diggers" fall into this group.
_______________________________________________________________
Side One:
Captain Kidd
Freebooting that preyed on ships carrying cargoes or passengers between England, and her colonies without such a commission, or for private gain, was considered pirate and criminal. But freebooting waged against the enemies of England was Privateering and was initiated and condoned by other governments as well.
Priates had been making such inroads on English colonial shipping that King William and several colonial governors formed a stock company to hunt them down and incidentally to capture and sell the pirate vessels for a profit. To command their vessel, "The Adventure Galley," they hired Captain Kidd.
Captain Kidd cruised the American coast looking for pirates without success. His crew, who were to participate in profits, became mutinous and demanded action. Kidd agreed to attack French and other ships, at that time fair game for Englishmen. Unfortunately, Kidd became notorious which proved politically inconvenient to his employers, especially the King, who was then negotiating a truce with France. Kidd was hailed to England on a trumped-up charge of murdering his gunner, whom he had accidentally killed.
The Escape of Old John Webb
Only religious songs were approved in the New England colonies. However, ballads on current happenings could not be suppressed and broadsides describing events often took the place of newspapers. The broadsides were accounts in verse associated with or written to traditional tunes. About the year 1730, John Webb and Bill Tenor were imprisoned at Salem, Massachusetts. Their imprisonment was unpopular. The jail raid which freed them was much applauded and a twenty-verse broadside was printed describing the incident. (The song herein is a selection of four of these verses ... a condensation, one might say.) Government authorities advertised unsuccessfully for information regarding author and printer.
Free America
The writer of this call to arms was Dr. Joseph Warren of Boston, one of the original Minute Men. It was he who started Paul Revere off on his famous ride in 1775. He was killed in the first major engagement of the war, Bunker Hill. For this song, which became immediately popular, he used the well-known English melody, "The British Grenadier."
The Boston Tea Tax
The words of these, both about the Boston Tea Party, were written long after the event. The melody of the second, first heard in 1730, is from an old sea song, "Come and Listen to My Ditty," or "The Sailor's Complaint." The reference in the first song to "Boston ain't a city" refers to the fact that the king had revoked the city's charter.
The Ballad of the Tea Party
Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier
It is the same in every war. The soldier goes off to battle and the women live at home in dread and hope. During the Revolutionary War they sang the anonymous "Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier."
The Riflemen's Song at Bennington
General Burgoyne's disasters, en route from Canada to Albany by way of Lake Champlain, were recorded in popular contemporary ballads. At Bennington one of his foraging detachments was attacked by eight hundred ill-armed villagers who rallied in the driving rain to kill or capture the entire British force.
The Battle of Saratoga
This ballad, first printed as a news story in verse throughout the colonies, tells the story of the Hessians, the German mercenaries, who were sent on an expedition by General Burgoyne. Burgoyne was defeated and surrendered to General Gates at Saratoga, New York, on October 7, 1777. Those familiar with the Irish ballad, "Brennan on the Moor," will recognize a variation on the Irish tune.
Sir Peter Parker
The revolution was fought on land and water. Sir Peter Parker, commanding the British man-of-war, Bristol, while attacking Charleston, received a heavy cannonading from the rebels. His breeches were torn off and his thigh wounded. The Constitutional Gazetter remarked:
"If 'Honor in the breech is lodged,'
As Hudibras has shown,
It may from thence be fairly judged
Sir Peter's honor's gone."
Cornwallis Country Dance
Burgoyne was defeated at Saratoga, Howe was in Philadelphia, and Cornwallis campaigned in Carolina and Virgina. Although he took Charleston and Savannah, the guerrilla warfare of Marion, Sumter, and the Mountain Boys made his campaign ineffective. His retreating and advancing, as he fought General Green back and forth through North Carolina, reminded an unknown balladeer of the "Contre Dance," where two facing lines move back and forth. The English dance tune to which the ballad is set became very popular in the United States in the early 19th Century as "Pop Goes The Weasel."
Side Two:
The Yankee Man-o-War
The most famous naval commander of the American Revolution was John Paul Jones. His raids inspired the ballad, "Yankee Man-o-War," glorifying his skill in out-maneuvering the enemy, and did much to encourage the morale of the rebelling colonists.
High Barbaree
Until 1801 America and England paid yearly tribute to the four Barbary states of North Africa for free passage of merchant ships. This song celebrating the fight of the Prince of Wales with one of the Barbary pirates was written by Charles Dibdin, who was under commission to write songs for the British navy. It became a folk song by being universally remembered and sung.
(This recording is not a good one, it skips badly due to a defect on the actual vinyl LP but it's included here for completion.)
The Constitution and The Guerriere
The War of 1812 was a naval war. Many sea battles lived on in balladry, and one of them from the War of 1812 is "The Constitution and the Guerriere." It describes a naval battle from the American side, and there is a good bit of Yankee boasting. The naval men of this war were not only brilliant sailors and fighters, but had a sense of personal combat and technical rivalry. When Captain Dacres surrendered aboard the Constitution, Captain Hull refused to take his sword because the two had made a wager before the battle. Hull took Dacres' hat and wore it in next fight against a British vessel. Years later the two met as friends in Rome.
The frigate "Constitution" lasted through all the fights of the War of 1812. She had been launched in 1797, fought the Barbary pirates, and was in commission until 1830. By that time a sentimental public was calling her "Old Ironsides." In 1830 she was condemned and ordered to be broken up. Newspapers editors, led by Dr. Oliver Wendell Homes of Boston, raised a great cry against the destruction of the ship. She had become a symbol. Her preservation became a cause celebre. Dr. Holmes wrote a poet called "Old Ironsides"; few will fail to remember its familiar verses, starting with the line: "Aye, tear her tattered ensign down."
The Hornet and The Peacock
During the War of 1812, the victory of the American ship, "Hornet" over the British ship, "Peacock" greatly cheered an American public, gloomy after many land reverses.
Ye Parliaments of England
The growth of nationalist feeling in the young United States inspired an address in song to the British Parliament, warning the British to keep hands off. "Ye Parliaments of England" is also a nice summary of American hopes in mid-war. Perry had recouped American losses on Lake Erie and, as we see in the last stanza, the songwriter still thought it possible for us to acquire Canada. This was before Napoleon's capture freed the British fleets and troops for the landing in America that led to the burning of Washington, D.C.
Patriotic Diggers
The war of 1812 aroused much patriotic fervor. All the citizens of the city of Philadelphia, when it was threatened by attack, participated in defending the city. Samuel Woodward, composer of "The Old Oaken Bucket" wrote a song which is worth its weight in gold as a rallying song to this day. It sings of Free Americans, from all walks of life, rising in defense of the nation.
Hunters of Kentucky
Andrew Jackson fought his winning battle in New Orleans two weeks after the war was over because communications were so slow he did not know the peace had been signed. "Hunters of Kentucky" is a humorous song about Jackson and his brave Kentuckians. Samuel Woodward wrote it in 1830, using the melody of "Miss Bailey's Ghost" for verses about the Battle of New Orleans. It became Jackson's campaign song for the presidency.*
*Listen to Album V for "Unfortunate Miss Bailey."
