Yo Ho, Yo Ho

DESCRIPTION: In this formula song, the singer tells of placing his hand successively on a woman's toe, knee, thigh, etc., and the results of his quest.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: The type appears in 1661, in Merry Drollery, as "There Were Three Birds"; then in the 1838 chapbook The Fancy! A Fanciful Collection of Fancy, Flash, and Amatory Songs as "Billy Go Leary"
KEYWORDS: bawdy seduction sex
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(Ap,So,SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray-EroticMuse, pp. 318-323, "Yo Ho, Yo Ho" (1 text, 1 tune plus 1 text for "Billy Go Leary")
Thomas-BalladMakingInMountainsOfKentucky, p. 31, (no title) (1 short text, which might or might not be this, but it is suggestive that it breaks off just as the sailor promises to tell a tale) (OakEd, pp. 43-44)
Roud #5586
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There Were Three Birds"
cf. "Drive It On"
cf. "Gently, Johnny, My Jingalo" (Cecil Sharp's rewrite)
cf. "He Kept A-Kissin' On"
cf. "He Gave Her Kisses One"
cf. "How Ashamed I Was"
cf. "A-Rovin'"
cf. "The Girl in Portland Street" (plot, theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Laid My Hand upon Her Knee
NOTES [49 words]: This song, as old as any in the English-language canon, survives in multiple variants sung to a variety of melodies. - EC
It appears Roud lumps this with "Gentry Johnny My Jingalo." That song has been so heavily redacted by Sharp that I can't lump them despite their, um, points of contact. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: EM318

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