Digging for Gould

DESCRIPTION: Boys know Darby Kelly only loves gold. Dan tells Darby he dreamt of a jar of gold. They dig and find a jar. He takes it home on his back; when they smash it, he is "like a black sugar stick on a hot summer-day," not smelling like gold. He is cured
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging sb10104a)
KEYWORDS: greed lie trick dream humorous gold
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 43, "Digging for Gould" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #477, p. 32, "Digging for Gould" (1 reference)
Roud #V15467
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(129), "Digging for Gould", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878 [same as LOCSinging sb10104a]; also Firth c.20(133), "Digging for Gold"
LOCSinging, sb10104a, "Digging for Gould", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878 [same as Bodleian Harding B 18(129)]
NOTES [126 words]: Both O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland and the De Marsan broadside leave off the last verse: once the jar is broken we know from the smell that Darby Kelly is not covered with gold; the missing part, only in shelfmark Firth c.20(133), [runs] "when she [his wife] saw Darby good lord! what a sight, Doubled in two on the ground there he lay, Like a black sugar stick on a hot summer-day ... I know them gasoons have disbed me complete, Never more by you I'll be led or rulled, For I may dig my grave, when I next dig Gold."
Broadsides LOCSinging sb10104a and Bodleian Harding B 18(129): H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site.
Last updated in version 5.0
File: OCon043

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