Was You Ever See?

DESCRIPTION: "There was John and Jane and Betsy/Eating buns and drinking whisky/Dancing jigs upon the fiddle/Up the sides and down the middle"; singer's sister Bella is never without her umbrella; brother Joe went to Chester College for to get a bit of knowledge; etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954 (recorded from Manfrie Wood)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "There was John and Jane and Betsy/Eating buns and drinking whisky/Dancing jigs upon the fiddle/Up the sides and down the middle"; singer's sister Bella is never without her umbrella; his brother Joe went to Chester College for to get a bit of knowledge; etc. Chorus: "Was you ever see?/Was you ever see?/ Was you ever see such a jolly time before?"
KEYWORDS: nonsense moniker nonballad music
FOUND IN: Britain(Wales)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 309, "Was You Ever See" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morgan/Green-RugbySongs, p. 13, "Did You Ever See?" (1 text)
Roud #2144
RECORDINGS:
Manfrie Wood, "Was You Ever See?" (on FSB10)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cosher Bailey's Engine" (tune, structure) and references there
NOTES [64 words]: Because this is identical in form to "Cosher Bailey," I was tempted to lump them -- but Cosher isn't in it, so I split them. - PJS
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland regards "Cosher Bailey" as an offshoot of this song. But Kennedy thinks everything is a version of everything else; he offers no evidence. The verses of this seem to have gone in a completely different direction. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: K309

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