John (George) Riley (I) [Laws N36]

DESCRIPTION: A stranger urges a girl to forget her lover; she will not. He tells her that Riley had been aboard his ship, and that Riley had been killed in battle with the French. She is distressed; he reveals that he is Riley and will never again leave her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Shield's _Songs and Ballads in use in the Province of Ulster...1845_, according to Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815) +1818 (William Garret, _Right Choyse and Merrie Book of Garlands_)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation marriage disguise reunion
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 12, 1782 - The Battle of Port Royal
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,Ro,SE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Laws N36, "John (George) Riley I"
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #138, pp. 2-3, "George Rylie"; #148, p. 2, "George Rylie" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan5 1039, "George Riley" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, pp. 20-21, "George Reily" (1 fragment, 1 tune, heavily padded out by Linscott to a full ballad; based on the actual text Linscott collected, it is not clear if it is Laws N36 or N37 or something else)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 82, "George Reilly" (8 texts, 8 tunes, many of them too short to classify, but it appears that C is Laws N36 while A B D E F G H are Laws N37)
Thompson-APioneerSongster 15, "George Reily" (1 text)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 215-216, "Jack Riley/George Reilly" (1 text)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 39, "George Reilly" (1 text)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 187-189, "John Riley" (1 text plus a broadside print, 1 tune)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 37, "George Riley" (2 texts, although Laws assigns only the A text to this ballad; the B text, which is fairly short, might go with this or N37)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 95, "George Reilly" (1 text plus mention of 2 more; Laws's citations are far from clear, since he cites the same page reference under both N36 and N37, but Cox's printed text is clearly this piece; presumably he thinks one of the unprinted texts to be N37)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #37, "John Riley II" (1 text, which Hubbard thinks is "The Banks of Claudy" but which features this plot and the name of Riley)
Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815 9, "George Reilly Who Fought at Port Royal Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 150-152, "George Reily" (1 text)
DT 592, JREILLY6
Roud #267
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The New-Slain Knight" [Child 263]
cf. "The Banks of Brandywine" [Laws H28]
cf. "The Blooming Bright Star of Belle Isle" [Laws H29]
cf. "Willie and Mary (Mary and Willie; Little Mary; The Sailor's Bride)" [Laws N28]
cf. "A Seaman and His Love (The Welcome Sailor)" [Laws N29]
cf. "William Hall (The Brisk Young Farmer)" [Laws N30]
cf. "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32]
cf. "Lovely Nancy (I)" [Laws N33]
cf. "Janie of the Moore" [Laws N34]
cf. "The Dark-Eyed Sailor (Fair Phoebe and her Dark-Eyed Sailor)" [Laws N35]
cf. "John (George) Riley (II)" [Laws N37]
cf. "The Mantle So Green" [Laws N38]
cf. "MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe)" [Laws N39]
cf. "The Banks of Claudy" [Laws N40]
cf. "The Lady of the Lake (The Banks of Clyde II)" [Laws N41]
cf. "Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token)" [Laws N42] (one of the most common of the ballads of this sort, often known as "John Riley")
cf. "Blackbirds and Thrushes (I)"
cf. "As Broad as I was Walking"
cf. "Come All Ye False Lovers"
cf. "Skerry's Blue-Eyed Jane"
cf. "The Banks of the Clyde"
cf. "The Banks of the Dee (II)"
cf. "Lurgan Town (I)"
cf. "The Banks of the Inverness"
cf. "Cairn-o'-Mount"
cf. "Drumallachie"
cf. "Down by the Seaside" (part of plot, lyrics)
cf. "Yon Green Valley" (lyrics)
cf. "Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh"
cf. "The Lass of Swansea Town (Swansea Barracks)"
cf. "The Soldier's Return"
cf. "Billy Ma Hone"
cf. "Mary of Sweet Belfast Town"
cf. "As I Was Walking Down In Yon Valley" (plot)
cf. "The Plains of Waterloo" (tune, per Greig/Duncan5)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
George Riley
John Riley
Johnnie Riley
NOTES [765 words]: It can be very hard to tell "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] from "John (George) Riley (II)" [Laws N37]; both involve separated lovers, both involve Riley, and both have him come back in disguise to test the girl. Almost every other element can fall out. Sharp unquestionably mixed versions together, as can be seen from the citation, and Laws seems to think Cox did so also. The lyrics seem occasionally to mix as well. Laws gives prototype verses and plot summaries but does not describe how to distinguish the two, especially in fragmentary cases.
Looking at the versions, it seems that the description of Riley's death in battle is characteristic of Laws N36.
Characteristic of Laws N37 are the girl's statement that, having lost her chance to marry Riley, she will live single, plus the call for her to go to Pennsylvania. Failing that, N37 seems almost always to begin with an "As I Walked Out" stanza, e.g.
As I walked out one mornin' early,
To take the cool an' pleasant air,
There I saw a beautiful creature,
She appeared to me like lilies fair.
(Randolph's #56A)
As I walked out one summer's morning
To view and take the pleasant air,
I saw a girl, and a comely fair one,
She appeared to me some lily fair.
(Sharp's #82A)
As I walked out one morning early
To view the fields, to take the air,
It was there I spied a calm-eyed damsel,
And she was like the lily fair.
(Flanders and Brown, pp. 135-136).
The openings of Laws N36 are less consistent, but usually don't resemble this. Here, for instance, is the opening verse of N36 as found in Greig/Duncan volume 5, #1039A
George Rylie they do call my love, a lad both neat and trim,
He's manly in proportion, there's few could equal him;
Wi' his curly locks and ringlets, coming over his shoulders rare,
His skin for whiteness far excels the fragrant lilies fair.
Note that the either song can call the man either John or George Riley, although "George" seems more characteristic of N36 and "John" of N37.
The theme of a lover coming in disguise and testing his love is ancient; there is a version in Ovid's Metamorphoses (VII.685 and following). Cephalus doubts Procris, and (disguised by the goddess Diana) comes to her and tries to get her to be unfaithful to him. She utterly rejects his advances.
In that case, however, the ending is not happy. Although they are reunited, and happy for a time, she eventually starts to doubt him (prompted perhaps by his earlier doubts?). She follows him as he goes hunting, and he -- hearing a rustling in the leaves -- kills her with a cast of his javelin.
Even older, of course, is the version in the Odyssey. - RBW
See the notes to "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32] for Mackenzie's discussion of Laws N36 as source for "The Mantle So Green" [Laws N38] and "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32].
[On April 12, 1782], Admiral George Brydges Rodney defeated the French Admiral the Count De Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes in the Caribbean and brought the captured French ships into Fort Royal. (source} Moylan; George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney at the Wikipedia site). [See also Arthur Herman, To Rule the Waves, pp. 316-318; Herman notes that Rodney pioneered the attack from the leeward side, assuring that the French could not escape him by running; Herman also considers the battle to have re-established British naval dominance, which was not broken even in the Napoleonic Wars. - RBW]
Both Laws and Moylan make fight the battle between Rodney and De Grasse. Laws has Reiley serving on Belflew; Moylan makes it Balflour. Moylan notes "The Formidable was Admiral Rodney's own vessel. The Barfleur was the ship which captured de Grasse's flagship, the Ville de Paris." - BS
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana's version also mentions the Rodney/De Grasse battle; the ship in his text is the Belle Flower, though the date is April 10. Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio has the date right; the ship is the Belflew. Cox also lists the Belflew (and has the April 12 date); presumably their agreement was the basis for the name in Laws.
For more on Rodney, see the notes to "Rodney's Glory." - RBW
Thompson-APioneerSongster and Greig/Duncan5 1039B also refer to the Battle of Port Royal. Greig, who has the same text as Greig/Duncan 1039A, refers to an April Battle of Port Said against the French, with the captains's names lost, but I don't find any record of such a battle; Wikipedia has Port Said not being founded until 1859 in connection with the beginning of construction of the Suez Canal ("Port Said" according to Wikipedia, accessed August 12, 2012). - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LN36

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