Abdul the Bulbul Emir (I)

DESCRIPTION: The heroic Moslem Abdul and the gallant Russian Ivan Skavinsky Skevar chance to meet. It doesn't take them long to begin duelling, which inevitably results in the deaths of both. Their burials and the mourning for them are described
AUTHOR: probably Percy French (1854-1920)
EARLIEST DATE: 1877 (copyright under the title "Abdulla Bulbul Ameer")
KEYWORDS: humorous death foreigner
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1853-1854 - Crimean War
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 344-346, "Abdul, the Bulbul Ameer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Neely/Spargo-TalesAndSongsOfSouthernIllinois, "Abdul da Bool Bool de Meer" (1 text)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 341-343, "Ye Ballade of Ivan Petrofsky Skevar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 128-131, "Abdul Abulbul Amir" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 3-5, "Abdullah Bul-Bul Amir" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 21, "Abdul, The Bulbul Amir" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 84, "Abdulla Bulbul Ameer"
Harbin-Parodology, #109, pp. 32-33, "Ivan Skizavitsky Skivar" (1 text)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsNThings, p. 58, "Ivan Skizavitzsky Skivar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsPopularEdition, p. 24, "Ivan Skiavitzsky Skivar" (1 text)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, pp. 34-35, "Ivan Skizavitsky Skivar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 152, 234, 286, 288, "Ivan Skizavitzky Skivar"/"Abdul the Bulbul Ameer" (notes only)
DT, ABDULBUL*
ADDITIONAL: James N. Healy, editor, _The Songs of Percy French_, 1955-1962, revised edition 1986; I use the 1996 Ossian paperback, pp. 9-10, "Abdulla Bulbul Ameer" (1 text, 1 tune)
James N. Healy, _Percy French and His Songs_, The Mercier Press, 1966, pp. 5-7, "Abdulla Bulbul Ameer" (1 text "as originally written," partial tune); pp. pp. 8-9, "Abdul Abulbul Ameer" (1 text, the widely published version)
Roud #4321
RECORDINGS:
Ernest Hare, "Abdul Abulbul Amir" (Edison 52284, 1928)
Frank Crumit, "Abdul Abulbul Amir" (Victor 20715, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Abdul the Bulbul Emir (II)" (tune & meter)
SAME TUNE:
Fossicker Michael O'Flynn (file: Clev074)
Frank Crumit, "The Return of Abdul Abulbul Amir" (Victor 22482, 1930)
Frank Crumit, "The Grandson of Abdul Abulbul Amir" (HMV [UK] B-4331, 1933)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Abdul, The Bulbul Ameer
Ivan Skavinsky Skevar
NOTES [417 words]: Often listed as being of unknown authorship -- probably because French's original composition (set in the Crimean War) was stolen (French, who was still quite young, had not secured copyright, and gave the song away for five pounds) and printed without his name. (According to James N. Healy, editor, The Songs of Percy French, 1955-1962, revised edition 1986; I use the 1996 Ossian paperback, p. 5, this was in fact French's very first song.)
As Healy's text shows, in French's original text, the hero was "Abdualla Bulbul Ameer." His Russian opponent was Ivan Potschjinski Skidar (which is supposed to be pronounced "like a sneeze"). It will be evident that French's knowledge of Arabic (Turkish?) and Russian was nonexistent.
Conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire was almost constant in the nineteenth century, as the Tsar sought to expand his realm and the feeble Turks tried to hold onto their European possessions. Full-fledged wars were few, however, making it clear that this song refers to the Crimean War (which pitted England, France, and the Ottomans against the Russians).
Abdul's cry, "Allah Akbar," means "God is great," and is a common Islamic slogan. "Bülbül Amîr" means "nightingale chieftain" in Turkish -- but it is far from certain that French knew this.
For background on Percy French, see the notes to "Ballyjamesduff."
Although this song has been found in tradition, it seems to have been most popular with college audiences. Jim Dixon found all of the following on Google Books:
(No author listed), The Michigan Argonaut, Vol. 7, No. 10 (Ann Arbor, MI: Dec. 15, 1888), p 75, "The Moslem and the Muscovite" (1 text). (This seems to be a student publication from the University of Michigan. The poem appears under the headline "What they write at Oxford.")
R. T. Whitehouse and Frederick Bruegger, The New Harvard Song Book (Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1896), p. 139, "Abdullah Bul Bul Amir" (1 text, 1 tune)
C. A. Fullerton, Glee Club Songs (Cedar Falls, IA: Fullerton & Gray, 1906), p. 86, "Abdul the Bulbul Ameer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Howard D. McKinney, Songs of Rutgers, (Fourth Ediion, New Brunswick, NJ: Howard D. McKinney, 1916), p. 114, "Abdul the Bulbul Ameer" (1 text, 1 tune)
United States Naval Academy, The Book of Navy Songs (Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1926 [Note: the title page says "1930" but the following page says "Copyright 1926."]), p 26, "Abdul Abulbul Amir" (1 text, 1 tune)
No doubt that is just scratching the surface. - RBW, JD
Last updated in version 6.5
File: LxA341

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