Knickerbocker Line, The

DESCRIPTION: The earliest versions seem to involve a man who became involved with a seamstress who later stole his watch. In the U.S. this plot seems to have disappeared, replaced by sundry nonsense. The references to the Knickerbocker Line seems diagnostic
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (but Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills, p. 550, points to a probable parody from 1859)
KEYWORDS: nonsense robbery courting
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,West),Scotland(Aber,High)) US(MA) Australia
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 323, "The Knickerbocker Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 146, "The Knickerbocker Line" (2 texts, 2 tunes, plus a text of a published antecedant)
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, p. 195, "The Knickerbocker Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
REFERENCES:
ADDITIONAL: John MacShannon,"Knickerbocker Line," School of Scottish Studies Archive SA1962.062,Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches, https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/12560?l=en, accessed 7/15/2023
Lucy Stewart, "Jeannie's Aa the Go," School of Scottish Studies Archive SA1960.141,Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches, https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/54685?l=en, accessed 7/15/2023
ST K323 (Partial)
Roud #2149
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Great Northern Line" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Dogger Bank" (tune, chorus, meter, and references there)
NOTES [94 words]: Greig/Duncan6 1102F is labelled "The Knickerboker Line" [sic] for no apparent reason. It is [correctly] included among the entries for Greig/Duncan6 1102, "Blow Ye Winds, Ay Oh" in "Ten Thousand Miles Away."
See the discussion of the second chorus of Sam Larner's song at "The Dogger Bank."
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills p.548: "On this we can be quite definite. The Knickerbocker Line ran in New York City on a known route. Its mode of conveyance was a horse-drawn omnibus. Its heyday was reached in 1859, when the song about it was written." - BS
Last updated in version 6.6
File: K323

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