I'm a Young Man from the Country

DESCRIPTION: "I'm a young man from the country... I'm a free and easy fellow, I need not tell my name. Oh, wouldn't you like to know me?" Town people try to trick him, but he knows his cab fares and all the tricks, and avoids the traps
AUTHOR: unknown (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (Charles John Martin, "Locals," according to Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ)
KEYWORDS: travel trick home
FOUND IN: US(Ap) Britain(England(South)) New Zealand
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #110, "I'm a Young Man from the Country" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 253, "I'm A Young Man from the Country" (1 text)
Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ, pp. 28-30, "The New Chum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, p. 25, "I'm a Young Man" (1 text, 1 tune) (p. 15 in the 1972 edition)
Garland-FacesInTheFirelight-NZ, p. 61, 238, "(I'm a Young Man Just from England") (1 text plus an excerpt); also p. 294, "(I'm a boy from Ohingaiti)" (1 text, a modified "rugby version" of 1893)
New-Comic-Songster, pp. 26-27, "I'm a Young Man from the Country" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dime-Song-Book #15, pp. 60-61, "I'm a Young Man from the Country" (1 text)
HooleysBlackStarSongster, pp. 40-41, "The Countryman's Visit" (1 text)
FolkSongAndMusicHall, "I’m a young man from the country -- but you don’t get over me"
Roud #1510
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "They Won't Know I'm From the Country" (theme)
NOTES [138 words]: Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ, Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, and Garland-FacesInTheFirelight-NZ attribute this to Charles John Martin, who published a New Zealand version in 1862. But what is clearly a version of the same piece, without the localization, was published in Beadle's Dime Song Book #15, just two years later, in HooleysBlackStarSongster in 1865, and in Oliver Ditson & Co, The New Comic Songster, from 1870. The British version is listed as by Harry Sydney and Thomas German Reed (see FolkSongAndMusicHall), but it's dated 1865, after the New Zealand version. The three early American printed versions lack attribution, but are clearly related to the both the American and New Zealand versions. Presumably there is an ancestor to all the versions somewhere; it might be worth an investigation. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: MHAp253

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