FTX-922 - WHISKY IN THE JAR

LENA BOURNE FISH

Over 80 songs recorded by Frank & Anne Warner on paper disk at East Jaffrey, 1940-1. Thirty-seven of Lena's songs were included in the Warner's book: TRADITIONAL AMERICAN FOLK SONGS (Syracuse Univ.1984) which contains full texts, tunes, background notes and photograph. Lena's forebears came from Scotland and it is her family version of WHISKY IN THE JAR, after a number of chart hits, that became so well-known in Britain and Ireland.

1. Lena introduces herself and her song collection - 1'15"

2. BARBARA ALLEN [book #40] - 0'44"

3. THE CASTLE BY THE SEA [#41] [THE OUTLANDISH KNIGHT] - 0'41"

4. BLACK-EYED (GYPSY) DAVY [#42] - 0'46"

5. LORD BATEMAN [#43] - 0'22"

6. THE OLD WETHER'S SKIN [#44] (complete song) - 4'22"

7. THE SHIP CARPENTER [#45] - 0'37"

8. THE BATTLE WITH THE LADLE [#46] - 0.29

9. BILL THE WEAVER [#47] 2v - 0'30"

10. THE CABIN BOY [#48] (THE MAID IN SORROW) - 0'50"

11. CAPTAIN JOHN [#49] (THE GREEN BEDS) - 0'51"

12. "Song of the French-Indian War" FELIX THE SOLDIER [#50] - 0'31"

13. GILGARRAH MOUNTAIN [#51] (WHISKY IN THE JAR) - 0'54"

14. HI RINKY DUM [#52] (Seventeen come Sunday) 3v & ch - 0'54"

15. I'LL SIT DOWN AND WRITE A SONG) [#53] (SWEET WILLIAM) - 0'39"

16. JOHNNY SANDS [#54] - 0'55"

17. ONLY A SOLDIER [#55] (THE VALIANT SOLDIER) - 0'49"

18. PLOUGHBOY OF THE LOWLANDS [#56] (EDMUND DALE) - 0'54"

19. THE PRESS GANG SAILOR [#57] (POLLY ON THE SHORE) - 0'35"

20. PRETTY SYLVIA [#58] (THE FEMALE HIGHWAYMAN) - 0'41"

21. THE RAMBLER FROM CLARE [#59] - 0'45"

22. YOUNG BUT DAILY GROWING [#60] - 0'24"

23. THE YOUNG PRINCE OF SPAIN [#61] - 0'24"

24. IMAGINARY TROUBLE [#62] (THE CRYING FAMILY) talk bef - 0'42"

25. JOE BOWERS [#63] - 0'57"

26. RICHMOND ON THE JAMES [#64] 6v - 3'25"

27. ON SPRINGFIELD MOUNTAIN [#65] - 0'17"

28. WILLIAM THE SAILOR [#66] - 0'59"

29. THE BONNY BAY OF BISCAY-O [#67] 3v & ch - 1'24"

30. LIVING IN THE SPRING (THE BULL FROG) [#68] 2v & ch - 0'50"

31. THE CAPTAIN WITH HIS WHISKERS [#69] - 0'51"

32. HO, BOYS, HO [#70] (or SACRAMENTO) 2v & ch - 0'43"

33. THE JOLLY ROVING TAR [#71] (GET UP, JACK, JOHN, SIT DOWN) 2v & ch - 1'14"

34. THE JOLLY TINKER [#72] - 0'30"

35. OLD TIPPECANOE [#73] 1v & ch - 0.33

36. THE PROP OF THE NATION [#74] 4v - 1'36"

37. EVERY YEAR BRINGS SOMETHING NEW (THE TELEGRAPH WIRE) [#75] 1v & ch - 0'20"

38. TOUCH NOT THE CUP [#76] - 0'39"

39. SONGS MY MOTHER SANG TO ME (Her own composition) talk bef - 2'34"

40. CAPTAIN KIDD - 0'48"

41. MOTHER'S FOOL (Tune: The White Cockade) 2v & ch - 0'59"

42. ALONG THE RAILWAY (SWEET BIDDY McGEE/ Tune: Green Bushes) - 0'44"

43. THE SPINSTER'S LAMENT - 0'43"

44. THE SHIP THAT NEVER RETURNED 1v & ch - 1'03"

45. THE CHARMING ENGINEER - 0'47"

46. THE LITTLE BLACK MOUSTACHE - 0'52"

47. OLD MAN WEATHER - 0'41"

48. THE SOUTHERN PLAINS - 0'41"

49. THE SWEET SUNNY SOUTH - 0'32"

50. THE FADED COAT OF BLUE 2v & ch - 1'58"

51. DOWN BY OLD SMOKY MOUNTAIN talk bef 5v - 1'38"

52. THAT OLD BLACK MULE OF MINE 2v & ch - 0'58"

53. MY MOUNTAIN HOME talk bef - 1'02"

54. WILL MY SOUL PASS THROUGH IRELAND? - 1'01"

55. THE LOW-BACKED CAR 1v & ch - 0'37"

56. SAUCY ANNA LEE Last part of song/fragmentary - 0'13"

57. NETTIE MOORE 1v & ch - 0'47"

58. THE JOLLY BACHELOR (HARD LINES) - 0'26"

59. THE OULD PLAID SHAWL - 0'50"

60. THE TUNE THE OLD COW DIED ON 1v & ch - 0'36"

61. THE DRUMMER BOY OF OXFORD TOWN talk bef - 0'43"

62. CRAZY JANE - 0'48"

63. THE SHANTY BOY (FARMER'S SON) - 0'29"

64. SOLDIER, WILL YOU MARRY ME? - 0'27"

65. THE DERBY RAM - 0'35"

66. JOHNNY DWYER (Boxing Ballad) - 0'51"

67. BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE - 0'44"

68. THE CHARMING YOUNG WIDOW (Sweet Jenny Jones) - 0'48"

69. WHERE THE PRATIES GROW 1v & ch - 0'55"

70. WHISPER GOOD NIGHT, LOVE 1v & ch - 1'20"

71. I'VE BEEN A WILD BOY 2v & ch - 1'00"

72. THE FELLOW THAT LOOKS LIKE ME 1v & ch - 0'37"

73. I'VE ONLY BEEN DOWN TO THE CLUB - 1'04"

74. MY LOVE IS A JOCKEY (GREEN GROWS THE LAUREL) - 0'42"

75. BARNEY McGHEE MAKES SHEEPS EYES AT ME 1v & ch - 0'42"

76. DERBY O'LEARY - 0'39"

77. I ADMIRE A BLACK-EYED MAN (MADAM I HAVE COME A-COURTING) 1v & ch - 0'22"

78. THE CUCKOO - 0'30"

79. YOUNG CHARLOTTE - 0'33"

80. GRANNY'S OLD ARMCHAIR 1v & ch - 1'09"

81. THAT ROGUE REILLY 2v & ch - 0'42"

Recorded by Frank & Anne Warner on paper disk at East Jaffrey, 1940-1. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1987.

LENA BOURNE FISH (1873-1945) was born and brought up in Black Brook, N.Y., daughter of Stratton Bourne and Cynthia Abel Bourne. Her father was a native of Vermont, a lumber salesman in the Adirondacks, supplying wood for the charcoal used in the ironstone mines. Since she did not like teaching, she became a housekeeper to a lady in Temple, New Hampshire, and eventually married her son, John Fish, who died in 1918. Then she moved with her 7 children to East Jaffrey, New Hampshire. and It was there that she recorded her large collection for the Warners in 1940, amounting to nearly a hundred songs.

It is a matter of record that Helen Hartness Flanders also visited and recorded Lena Bourne Fish several months before the Warners came to see her. She and her assistant, Marguerite Olney, had a long-term relationship with Mrs. Fish, recorded her on several occasions after 1940 and, most importantly, had Mrs. Fish on the podium to illustrate the ballads for at least 15 of Mrs. Flanders' lectures on folksongs and ballads. The last lecture was at Harvard just two weeks before Mrs. Fish's death. LBF recorded 174 ballads for Flanders. (Information about HHF from Nancy-Jean Ballard Seigel, HHF's grand-daughter, Jan 2003)

HHF included 13 of her ballads in her book, ANCIENT BALLADS TRADITIONALLY SUNG IN NEW ENGLAND. #12, 13 and 33, taken from the Warner's collection, were published in Alan Lomax's FOLK SONGS OF NORTH AMERICA.