Boney

DESCRIPTION: Napoleon's story in the space of a shanty: "Boney was a warrior, Way up! A warrior and a tarrier, John Francois!" He fights the Russians, comes to Waterloo, is defeated, goes to Saint Helena, and dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1868 ("Once a Week")
KEYWORDS: shanty Napoleon exile battle Ireland
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1812- Napoleon's Russian campaign
1815- Battle of Waterloo
1821- Death of Napoleon on Saint Helena
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 13, "Boney" (1 text)
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, pp. 6-7, "Boney" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 78-79, "Boney" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Bone-CapstanBars, p. 42, "Boney" (1 partial text, 1 tune)
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, p. 29, "Boney" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 88-90, "Boney Was a Warrior" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 40-41, "Boney" (1 text, 1 tune plus 1 fragment of "Jean Francois")
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 27-28, "John Francois (Boney Was a Warrior)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 445-446, 448 "Boney," "Hilonday" (2 English and 1 French text, 2 tunes) [AbrEd, pp. 333-335]
Hugill-SongsOfTheSea, p. 75, "Jean Francois de Nantes" (2 texts, French and English, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, XLIX, p. 54, "Bonny Was a Warrior" (1 text, 1 tune)
Terry-TheShantyBook-Part1, #26, "Boney was a warrior" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 63, "Oh, Boney was a warrior" (1 fragment)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, p. 310, "Boney" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 88, "Boney Was A Warrior" (1 text)
DT, BONEYNAP*
ADDITIONAL: "On Shanties," article in E(neas) S(weetland) Dallas, editor, _Once a Week_, New Series, Number 31, August 1, 1868 (published by Bradbury and Evans and available on Google Books), p. 93, "(Oh, Boney was a warrior, away a yah)" (3 excerpts)
Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919)." Boney was a Warrior" is in Part 4, 8/4/1917.

Roud #485
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bud Francois" (parody)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
John Francois
File: Doe006

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

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.