John of Hazelgreen [Child 293]

DESCRIPTION: A lady is weeping for John of Hazelgreen, whom she is not permitted to marry. She is offered marriage to another; this is little to her liking. By some means or other she meets Hazelgreen, and they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: elopement love marriage separation
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (26 citations):
Child 293, "John of Hazelgreen" (5 texts)
Bronson 293, "John of Hazelgreen" (29 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 293, "John of Hazelgreen" (3 versions: #1, #12, #16
Chambers-ScottishBallads, pp. 284-287, "Jock of Hazelgreen" (1 text)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong, p. 22, "Jock o' Hazeldean" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 1029, "Jock o' Hazel Green" (3 fragments, two of them on p. 624)
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume2 117, "Johnie of Hazelgreen" (1 text)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 43, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5a}
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 369-371, "Willie of Hazel Green" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #27}
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 237-238, "Young Johnny of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #25}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland4, pp. 281-284, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #25}
Davis-TraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 49, "John of Hazelgreen" (7 texts plus 2 fragments; the J text appears to have print influence; 3 tunes entitled "John o' the Hazelgreen," "John of Hazelgreen"; 1 more version mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #3, #26, #2}
Davis-MoreTraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 45, pp. 350-355, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 333, "Jock O' Hazeldean" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #176, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 fragment, which is properly "Jock o' Hazeldeen")
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 58A, "Jock o' Hazeldean"; 58B, "John of Hazelgreen" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 225-227, "John of Hazelgreen" (2 short texts, with local titles "John over the Hazel Green"; 2 tunes on pp. 415-416) {Bronson's #8, #7}
Peacock, pp. 537-538, "Johnny from Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 674-678, "John of Hazelgreen" (3 texts)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 143, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol1, pp. 91-92, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles-BalladBookOfJohnJacobNiles 63, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss-AngloAmericanFolksongStyle, pp. 95-96, "John of Hazelgreen" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Ford-SongHistories, pp. 282-285, "Jock o' Hazeldean" (1 text plus many excerpts of possible source texts)
MidwestFolklore, Tristram P. Coffin, "The Folk Ballad and the Literary Ballad: An Essay in Classification," Volume 9, Number 1 (Spring 1959) p. 14, "(Jock of Hazeldean)" (1 excerpt)
DT 293, JOCKHZLD* JOCKHZL2*
Roud #250
RECORDINGS:
Henry Burr, "Jock o'Hazeldean" (Victor 5519, 1908; Victor 16220, 1909; Victor 16041, 1916)
BROADSIDES:
Firth b.26(534), "Hazle Green" ("As I walked one evening all for to take the air"), Webb and Millington (Leeds), n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Nancy Dawson" (plot)
cf. "Lady Jean" (plot)
cf. "Parody on Jock o' Hazeldean" (parody)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jock o Hazeldean
John over the Hazel Green
Jock o Hazledean
NOTES [166 words]: Rewritten by Sir Walter Scott as "Jock o Hazeldean" -- a poem which has become perhaps more popular than the original ballad, and which is included in many poetic works (e.g. it is item CCXXVII in Palgrave's Golden Treasury).
Scholars since Child have debated the extent to which the Scott text (said to take only a single stanza from the traditional song) is influenced or has influenced tradition. One thing appears certain: The Scott text and some of the traditional versions are related (e.g. Davis's "J" is about 85% identical to the corresponding stanzas of Scott's text). Either the Scott text used more than the single stanza claimed, or his text has influenced tradition. - RBW
Broadside Bodleian Firth b.26(534) is a shortened version of the story.
There are broadsides of Scott's text. For example, Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 30, "Jock o' Hazel Dean" ("Why weep ye by the tide lady?"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 26(290), 2806 c.14(45), "Jock o' Hazel Dean"n. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C293

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography