We're All Nodding

DESCRIPTION: "We all are nodding, nid-nid-nodding, And falling off to sleep." "can't keep awake, we did our best, Heavy-like and weary, We have to get our rest." "It sure is late, we can't delay, We'll get our hats and bonnets and we'll all go away."
AUTHOR: Words: Jean Neal?
EARLIEST DATE: 1829 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast "Folk-Song in Buchan," p. 15, ("We're a' noddin'") (1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan7 1464, "We're A' Noddin'" (3 texts plus a single verse on p. 530, 1 tune)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 56, "We're all nodding, nid nid nodding" (1 text)
Randolph 883, "We're All Nodding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 392-393, "We're All Nodding" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 883)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 60, "All Noddin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol II, pp. 327-328, "We're A' Noddin"
Roud #3122
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Whigs Are A'Rinnin'" (tune)
cf. "Nid Noddin" (tune, per Chambers)
SAME TUNE:
We're A' Cuttin' (File: GrD3664)
Gen. Scott A-Sleep ("O! they're all dreaming, dream, dream, dreaming") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 189)
Quartz on the Brain ("We're all cranky, mad, mad, cranky, Most of us are suffering from quartz upon the brain") (by Charles R. Thatcher) (Hoskins-GoldfieldBalladeer-LifeAndTimes-Charles-R-Thatcher, pp. 182-184)
NOTES [33 words]: Cohen thinks this is the source for "The Dodger," and certainly the form is very similar; this song instantly reminded me of that. But that does not really mean that they are source and offspring. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: R883

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