Twenty-One

DESCRIPTION: "At twenty-one I first began to court a neighbour's child...." "At twenty-two no man could view what beauty she possessed...." "At twenty-three she slighted me..." to marry Mike Whelan instead. The singer laments her falsity (and sets out to ramble)
AUTHOR: Mark Walker (1846-1924) ? (Source: Philip Hiscock of MUNFLA, Canadian Folk Music Bulletin 37.2, 2003)
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection betrayal rambling beauty infidelity marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H33+H611, pp. 397-398, "Twenty-One" (1 text with many variant readings, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou 69, "Lovely Katie-o" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, AT21
Roud #4714
RECORDINGS:
George Carew, "Katie-O" (on MUNFLA-Leach)
Robert Cinnamond, "At Twenty One" (on IRRCinnamond03)
Jack C. Molloy, "Cruel Katie-O" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
NOTES [129 words]: Mark Walker is listed as the author of several popular Newfoundland songs, "Tickle Cove Pond," "Fanny's Harbour Bawn," "The 'Antis' of Plate Cove," and "Lovely Katie-O"; a family tradition also says that he wrote "The Star of Logy Bay." See the notes to that song for discussion of the matter.
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou, who support the attribution to Walker, suggest that Walker had a tough time with women; he "was courting one Katie, when Mike Whelan, a chap from Indian Arm... made off with the lovely maid."
Contradicting this attribution is the fact that Sam Henry had the song in 1924. This is possible, since it was at the end of Walker's life, but it's rare for a Newfoundland song to travel to Ireland. One wonders if perhaps Walker adapted an existing song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: HHH033

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