John, John Crow

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "Every Sunday mornin', John, John Crow. When I go a-courtin', John, John Crow." Rhyming verses on courting, working, and eating. Written in dialect.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1843 (William Cullen Bryant; see Notes)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong courting
FOUND IN: US West Indies(Barbados)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 199-200, "John, John Crow" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: William Cullen Bryant, "Letter XI. The Interior of South Carolina" in _Letters of a Traveller_, 2nd edition (1850 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), p. 86, ("John, John Crow") (1 text)
Roud #9171
NOTES [132 words]: Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips's brief notes say this is a Barbadian negro shanty for unloading cargo. - SL
Bryant's letter is dated March 29, 1843. He has this as a plantation corn-shucking song that "represents the various animals of the woods as belonging to some profession or trade. For example --
De cooter [terrapin] is de boatman...
De red-bird is de soger ...
De mocking-bird de lawyer ...
De alligater sawyer."
John Crow is most likely a crow but, if this song was originally from the West Indies then "John Crow" could as well be a black or turkey vulture, both of which are common in the east and one or other of which were common on different Caribbean islands. See, for example, "Chi-Chi Bud," "Cudelia Brown," "Hol' Yuh' Han'," "Wheel and Turn Me," and "Oh, Mr. Corbeau." - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: Harl199

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