Grandma's Advice

DESCRIPTION: The girl is cautioned by her grandmother to be cautious of boys. "They will flatter you and cunningly deceive." But the girl, courted by Johnny Green and Ellis Grove, thinks "If the girls... had been afraid / Grandma herself would have been an old maid"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1840 (The Lover's Harmony); supposedly also The [Winchester] Virginia Sentinal and Gazette, March 2, 1795
KEYWORDS: courting youth
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All)) Canada(Mar) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (32 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "GRANDMA'S ADVICE"
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, p. 74, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 173)
Hamer-GreenGroves, pp. 56-57, "Granny's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-SongsOfTheMidlands, p. 45, "My Grandma Lives on Winson Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 101, "Grandmaw's Advice" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 138, "Little Johnny Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 157, "My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 13, pp. 21-22, "Little Johnnie Green" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 194, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text plus a fragment and mention of 3 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 194, "Grandma's Advice" (3 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #194, "Little Johnny Green" (2 short texts)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #83, "Grandma Would Have Died an Old Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 374-375, "Die an Old Maid" (2 texts, with local titles "My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Little Green," (no title); 1 tune on p. 457)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 44, "Grandma's Advice" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 243-245, "My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 405-406, "(no title)" (1 text)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 36, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 90-91, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 157, "Little Johnny Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepSomeMoreMyLady, pp. 159-160, "My Grandmother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H208, p. 258, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 79, "My Grandma's Advice" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 161, "Little Johnny Green" (1 text)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-A, #26, pp. 101-102, "Grandma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol4, pp. 38-39, "My Grandma..." (1 text, 1 tune)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 46, "My Grandmother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dime-Song-Book #2/72, p. 15 and #2/64, p. 15, "My Grandmother's Advice" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1506, p. 103, "My Grand-Mother's Advice" (1 reference)
Heart-Songs, pp. 302-303, "My Grandma's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan, p. 480, "Little Johnny Green" (source notes only)
DT, GRANYADV*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 209, "Grandmaw's Advice" (1 text)
ST R101 (Full)
Roud #282
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Wolf, "Grandmama's Advice" (on USWarnerColl01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1857 610450, "My Grandma's Advice," Horace Waters (New York), 1857; also sm1885 04362, "My Grandma's Advice" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb30329a, "My Grand-Mother's Advice," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as104760, "Grand-Ma's Lesson"; as109120, "My Grand-Mother's Advice!"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Birken Tree"
cf. "She Loves Coffee and I Love Tea" (floating lyrics)
cf. "No, My Child" (theme)
NOTES [33 words]: Broadside LOCSinging sb30329a: 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. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: R101

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