Three Dukes

DESCRIPTION: "Here comes (three dukes) a-ridin', a-ridin', a-ridin', Here comes a duke a-ridin' The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee." The duke comes to be married; the girls ask him to choose one of them. He calls them ugly; they say they're as good as he is. He chooses one.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting nobility
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar) New Zealand Ireland
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #152, p. 2, "Here Are Two Dukes" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan8 1567, "Here Are Two Dukes" (1 text)
Broadwood/Maitland-EnglishCountySongs, p. 77, "The Three Dukes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sumner-TheBesomMaker, pp. 19-22, "Forty Dukes A Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolford-ThePlayPartyInIndiana, pp. 52-54=Wolford/Richmond/Tillson-PlayPartyInIndiana, pp. 213-214, "Here Comes Four Dukes A-Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 65-71, "Ransum, Tansum," "Here Come Four Dukes A-Riding" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph 551, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 406-407, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 551A)
Spurgeon-WaltzTheHall-AmericanPlayParty, pp. 159-160, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee"; pp. 188-189, "Three Dukes A-Riding" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 130, "Here Comes Someone A-Roving" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 68, "Here Comes Three Lawyers" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5, pp. 516-517, "Rancy, Tanchy, Teen" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 51, "Two Dukes A-Roving" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 13-15, "Here Come Three Dukes A-Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 260-262, "Here Comes a Duke A-Riding" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 242, (no title) (1 short text)
Thomas/Leeder-SinginGatherin, pp. 12-13, "Duke A-Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 95-96, "Here Come Three Merchants Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brady-AllInAllIn, pp. 106-108, "Here's the Gipsy Riding" (1 text, 1 tune); pp. 109-110, "The King of Rifles" (1 text, which seems remote from most texts of this song, but Brady considers it the same as the "Gipsy Riding")
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame 11, "A Duke a-Riding" (7 texts, 1 tune)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #3, "Here Comes a Duke" (3 texts plus excerpts)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, pp. 37-38, "(Here comes a Duke a-riding)" (1 text)
DT, THREDUK1 THREDUK2
Roud #730
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hog Drovers" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Three Brothers from Spain (Knights of Spain, We Are Three Jews)" (plot, lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Here Come Three Kings A-Riding
File: R551

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