Jesse James (I) [Laws E1]

DESCRIPTION: Jesse James's career is briefly described, with praise given to his (alleged) acts of charity. The story of James's murder is then told, focusing on the treachery of Robert Ford, "the dirty little coward that shot 'Mister Howard.'"
AUTHOR: unknown (many versions claim to be written by Billy Gashade)
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Comic and Sentimental Songs)
KEYWORDS: outlaw death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 4, 1882 - Shooting of Jesse James (then in semi-retirement under the name of Howard) by Robert Ford, a relative and a former member of his gang tempted by the $10,000 reward
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,So,SE)
REFERENCES (45 citations):
Laws E1, Jesse James (I)
Cohen-LongSteelRail, pp. 97-116, "Jesse James" (2 texts, 1 tune, plus sundry excerpts from various Jesse James songs and copies of two sheet music covers)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 401-404, "Jesse James" (3 texts, of which only the first is this song)
Randolph 132, "Jesse James" (6 texts plus an excerpt, 6 tunes, but Laws refers the B version to Laws E2; the excerpt "C" may also go there)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 146-148, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 132F)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 243, "Jesse James" (4 texts plus 3 excerpts and mention of 3 more; of these, the "A" and "B" texts are certainly this, and probably "G" also though it has wandered far; "I" is "Jesse James (II)")
Abrahams/Riddle-ASingerAndHerSongs, pp. 11-13, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 243, "Jesse James" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 112, "Jesse James" (1 fragment, placed here by Laws although it's not typical of the type)
Jones-MinstrelOfTheAppalachians-Bascom-Lamar-Lunsford, pp. 218-219, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 99, pp. 235-237, "Jesse James" (2 texts plus a fragment and mention of 3 more; the "B" text and "C" fragment are Laws E1; the "A" text is Laws E2)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 167, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 112-116, "Jessie James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 78-80, "Jessie James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Finger-FrontierBallads, p. 57, "Jesse James" (a copy of a Wehman broadside); pp. 58-59, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, pp. 17-18, "Jesse James" (1 text)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol1, pp. 58-59, "Jesse James" (1 fragment, 1 tune, probably this)
Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices, pp. 196-197, "Jesse James' (1 text, 1 tune, much removed from the common versions and with a chorus derived from "John Brown's Body")
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 139, "Jesse James" (1 short text without a chorus plus mention of 1 more, 1 tune)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 87, pp. 109-110, "Jesse James" 1 text plus 3 fragments)
Welsch-NebraskaPioneerLore, pp. 37-40, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 154-157, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 753-755, "Jesse James" (3 texts)
Leach-HeritageBookOfBallads, pp. 148-149, "Jesse James" (1 text)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 377, "Jesse James" (2 texts, but only the first is this ballad; Laws lists the second as Jesse James III, dE44)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 374-375, "I Went Down to the Depot" (1 text, 1 tune, heavily folk processed); 420-421, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 80, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 183, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune, which Laws places here but which is noticeably different from most other texts of this type)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 128-131, "Jesse James" (2 texts, 1 tune, but only the first is this ballad; the second is Jesse James II, Laws E2)
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 191-192, "(Jesse James)" (1 excerpt)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 93, "Jesse James" (5 texts, 2 tunes, of which the "A" and "B" texts are Laws E1 and the others are distinct)
Tinsley-HeWasSinginThisSong, pp. 168-173, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 64, pp. 145-146, "Jesse James"; p. 146, "Jesse James" (2 texts)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 44, "Jesse James" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 370-372 "Jesse James" (1 text plus a sheet music cover of a different Jesse James song)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, p. 42-43, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 36, "Jesse James" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert-LostChords, pp. 190-191, "Jesse James" (1 text)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 273, "Jesse James" (1 text)
Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong, p. 192, "Jesse James" (1 reminiscence, with just enough text to make it clar that it is this song)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 202, "Jesse James" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyPoetry, p. 188-189, "Jesse James" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Tristram P. Coffin, "The Folk Ballad and the Literary Ballad: An Essay in Classification," Volume 9, Number 1 (Spring 1959) p. 8, "(Jesse James)" (1 excerpt)
DT 619, JESSJAME*
ADDITIONAL: R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, _Rymes of Robyn Hood: An Introduction to the English Outlaw_, University of Pittsburg Press, 1976, pp. 279-280, "The Death of Jesse James" (1 text, from Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, offered as a parallel to the Robin Hood legend)
Roud #2240
RECORDINGS:
Bentley Ball, "Jesse James" (Columbia A3085, 1920)
Bill Bender (The Happy Cowboy), "Jesse James" (Asch 410-2/Stinson 410-2/Varsity 5141, n.d., rec. 1939)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Jesse James" (OKeh 45139, 1927)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Jesse James" (OKeh 40155, 1924) (LOC AAFS 97/AAFS L20)
Ken Maynard, "Jesse James" (1930, unissued; on RoughWays1)
Harry McClintock, "Jesse James" (Victor 21420, 1928; on WhenIWas2)
Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats, "Jesse James" (Decca 5710, 1939)
Riley Puckett, "Jesse James" (Columbia 15033-D, 1925)
George Reneau, "Jesse James" (Vocalion 14897, 1924)
Almeda Riddle, "Jesse James" [fragment] (on LomaxCD1705)
Pete Seeger, "Jesse James" (on PeteSeeger16)
Ernest Thompson, "Jesse James" (Columbia 145-D, 1924)
Marc Williams, "Jesse James" (Brunswick 269, 1928)
Fields Ward, Glen Smith & Wade Ward, "Jesse James" (on HalfCen1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jesse James (II)" [Laws E2]
cf. "Jesse James (III)"
cf. "The Death of Jesse James"
cf. "Jesse James (IV)"
cf. "Jesse James (VI -- 'I Wonder Where My Poor Old Jesse's Gone')"
cf. "J. B. Marcum (A Kentucky Feud Song)" [Laws E19] (tune & meter)
cf. "Cooper Milton" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Jesus Christ (by Woody Guthrie) (Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, pp. 301-302; DT, JESUSCHR)
Ballad of Medgar Evers (RECORDING, SNCC Freedom Singers, on VoicesCiv)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Oh, People Ain't You Sorry
NOTES [230 words]: It should probably be noted that Jesse James (1847-1882) wasn't as nice a person as this song depicts. He began his career with Quantrill's raiders (today we would say "terrorists"), and his behavior never improved much except that he eventually began to seek a more permanent residence.
"Thomas Howard" was the name used by James when he settled down in Saint Joseph, Missouri. It was not a "retirement name"; he was still committing robberies when he died.
The "Billy Gashade" mentioned in some texts as the author is unknown (the name "Billy Lashade" occurs in the 1887 songster text, for which see Cohen-LongSteelRail).
This version is the "standard" Jesse James song, usually beginning "Jesse James was a lad who killed many a man, He robbed the Glendale train." The usual chorus runs, "(Poor) Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life, Three children, they were brave. But the dirty little coward who shot Mister Howard Has laid Jesse James in his grave."
For full background on Frank and Jesse James, see the notes to "Jesse James (III)," the James song which has perhaps the strongest factual basis. - RBW
In 1955 I heard a Black man in Harlem -- in his eighties I believe -- who sang the standard verses to Jesse James with this chorus: "Oh Jesse, goodbye Jesse, Farewell Jesse James, I'm going round the bend and expect to come again, To see Jesse James in his grave." - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LE01

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