Peter Gray

DESCRIPTION: Peter Gray, of Pennsylvania, loves Lucy Annie Pearl. Her father sends her west; he considers suicide, but instead goes west himself and is scalped by Indians. She takes to her bed and dies. Chorus: "Blow ye winds of morning, blow ye winds heigh-o."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1859 (Duke University broadside, https://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hasm_cP478G/)
KEYWORDS: courting separation father Indians(Am.) death humorous
FOUND IN: US(So,SW) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 252-253, "Peter Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 53, "Peter Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan8 1897, "Peter Gray" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Heart-Songs, p. 359, "Peter Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1870, p. 126, "Peter Gray" (1 reference)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 56, "Peter Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 240, "Peter Gray" (1 text)
New-Comic-Songster, p. 33, "Peter Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dime-Song-Book #2/72, p. 45 and #2/64, p. 45, "Peter Gray" (1 text); #22, p. 37, "A Warning to Parients" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, part III, p. 38, "Peter Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSWB240C (Full)
Roud #4307
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Johnny Gray" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blow Ye Winds in the Morning" (chorus lyrics, tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Johnny Gray
NOTES [35 words]: Yes, I said humorous [in the keywords]; this is a reworking of a classic ballad plot unto the absurd. - PJS
And the versions I've heard sung are performed with great bathos, just to make sure we get the point. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: FSWB240C

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography