My Father's Servant Boy [Laws M11]

DESCRIPTION: The girl's father plans to have her marry a gentleman. She chooses instead to flee with her sweetheart. They find a captain who will bring them to America, and are supported by an Irishman till the boy can find a job. Despite poverty, the girl is happy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: marriage emigration poverty
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws M11, "My Father's Servant Boy"
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H198, pp. 481-482, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Graham-Joe-Holmes-SongsMusicTraditionsOfAnUlsterman 52, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 78, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 39, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text)
DT 578, SERVNTBY
Roud #1910
RECORDINGS:
Maggie Murphy, "My Father's Serving Boy" (on IRHardySons)
Roisin White, "My Father's Servant Boy" (on IRRWhite01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 238, "The Servant Boy" ("You lovers all both great and small attend unto my theme"), J. Catnach (London) , 1813-1838; also Firth c.18(207), Harding B 11(2595), Harding B 11(3453), Harding B 25(1752), Harding B 11(1471), "The Servant Boy"; Harding B 11(2998), "Answer to the Philadelphia Lass"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "You Lovers All" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Mullinabrone" (plot)
NOTES [115 words]: The broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(2998), "Answer to the Philadelphia Lass," W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle), c.1840 is on the same sheet as "Philadelphia Lass" ("It was on a summer's morning, all in the month of May"), another title for "Mary in Search of Her Lover"; that packaging makes it seem, to me, unlikely that our ballad was ever known elsewhere as "Answer to ...." On the other hand "Philadelphia Lass" may have been in tradition by that title
[see: Bodleian, Harding B 11(4257), "Mary in Search of her Lover," W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle) , 1832-1842; also Firth c.13(233), "Mary in Search of her Lover"; Harding B 11(2997), Harding B 11(2998), "[The] Philadelphia Lass" ] - BS
Last updated in version 3.5
File: LM11

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