Jal Along

DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer tells her girl to walk along; they hope to find a good house to beg food or cash from in exchange for matches. They've drunk up all their money in champagne
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: poverty drink begging foreignlanguage children Gypsy
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 128, "Jal Along" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [40 words]: According to Caroline Hughes, in the old days Travellers would make matches, sell them, buy champagne and get drunk. After recovering, they'd have no money left for food. The song is macaronic, incorporating cant and English. "Jal" = walk. - PJS
File: McCST128

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