Then We'll Have a New Convention

DESCRIPTION: "Katy, Katy, don't you want to marry? Your mother says you shall not marry... Until we kill the turkey hen." "Then we'll have a new convention And we'll kill the turkey hen... And we'll have the rights of man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage political bird
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 370, "Then We'll Have a New Convention" (1 text); also 371, "Colonel Harry, He Was Scared" (1 fragment, probably the same as the above or a parody, though it may be mixed)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 370, "Then We'll Have a New Convention" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Roud #11747
NOTES [139 words]: The notes in Brown connect this with the Civil War: The "convention" refers to the state conventions called to bring states out of the Union, and the song reportedly was used to recruit soldiers. Which makes sense, though it hardly explains the song. The "turkey hen" presumably refers to the Union, or to Lincoln, but this is hardly a common usage.
The "Colonel Harry" of the second Brown text is unidentifiable in context. And the two songs between them have only eight distinct lines, making it very hard to tell what's going on. But the second looks like it might be a later answer to the first: Brown #370 is a triumphant call for a convention (and hence secession); #371, which mentions a convention of "the volunteers and the drafted men" must have arisen in 1862 or later, as opposition to Confederate policies increased. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.1
File: Br3370

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