My Son John

DESCRIPTION: "My son John was tall and slim, And he had a leg for ev'ry limb, But now he's got no legs at all, For he ran a race with a cannon ball." He is asked how he came to lose his legs, and he says he was not at sea nor deaf or blind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968 (Hamer)
KEYWORDS: soldier injury mother
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hamer-GarnersGay, p. 44, "My Son John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #678
NOTES [48 words]: Roud lumps this with "Mrs. McGrath," and of course both are songs about injury. But "Mrs. McGrath" is also about recruiting, and that is completely missing here. Might this be derived from "Mrs. McGrath"? Certainly. But it's not where I would look for the piece, so I've split them. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: HaGa044

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