Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany) [Laws N7]

DESCRIPTION: A rich girl loves a soldier/sailor; her father does not, and has the boy pressed to Germany. She disguises herself and enlists under the name (Jackie Monroe). When her lover is wounded, she nurses him. She reveals her identity; they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1818 (Garret, _Merrie Book of Garlands_)
KEYWORDS: love cross-dressing disguise injury medicine marriage
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(Scotland) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (35 citations):
Laws N7, "Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany)"
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #45, pp. 1-2, "Jack Munro" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 171, "Jack Munro" (8 texts, 6 tunes); Greig/Duncan1 172, "Jackie Went A-Sailing" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 171-177, "Jack Munro" (5 texts)
Randolph 42, "Men's Clothes I Will Put On" (Of Randolph's six texts, only two -- "C", with melody, and "F" -- belong with this piece; "A" and probably "D" are variants of "The Banks of the Nile"; "B" and "E" may be "Banks of the Nile" or "William and Nancy I")
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, pp. 50-51, "Jack the Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 35, "Jack Went A-Sailing" (2 texts plus fragments, 3 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 59, "The Wealthy Merchant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 139, "Jack Munro" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 143, "Johnny's Gone A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 180-181, "Johnny's Gone A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 99, "Jack Monro" (2 texts plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 88, "Jack Munro" (4 excerpts, 4 tunes)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 59, "Jacke Went A-Sailing" (1 text)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #189, "Jackie Frazier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 34, pp. 147-148, "The Wars of Germany" (1 text)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 82, "Jackie Frazier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. "203-210, The Silk Merchant's Daughter" (4 texts, which despite Scarborough's title are all this song; local titles are "Jackaroe," "Jacky Freasher," "Jackie Frazier," "Jackie Frazier"; 1 tune on p. 410)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #26, "Ellen Smith" (1 text, 1 tune, which begins with a few verses of an Ellen Smith ballad -- probably "Ellen Smith" [Laws F11] based on the tune -- and follows it with a scrap of a sweetheart-going-to-war-with her lover ballad, which I think is "Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany)" [Laws N7])
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 37, "Jackie Fraisure" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 152, "Sing Lay the Lily Low" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol1, p. 38, "Jackaro" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol3, pp. 85-86, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune, which Bush incorrectly lists as a version of "Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly)" [Laws N14], which may have supplied a few words, especially at the beginning)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 65, "Jack Went A-Sailing" (20 texts, 20 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 32, "Jack Went a-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #28, "Jack Went a-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Korson-PennsylvaniaSongsAndLegends, pp. 53-54, "Jackie Frazier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 170-172, "Lily Munro" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 82, "Lily Munroe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 98, "Jackie Fraisure" (3 texts)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, pp. 30-31, "Across the Rocky Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune -- a rewritten and expanded version by Roscoe Holcomb)
Abrahams/Foss-AngloAmericanFolksongStyle, pp. 82-83, "Jackie's Gone A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 74-76, "Jack the Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 121-123, "Jack Monroe" (1 text)
DT 331, JACKROE* JACKROE2 JACKSAIL* JCKSAIL2* ACROSRCK*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 23, #2 (1974), p, 16, "Lilly Munroe" (1 text, 1 tune, the Uncle Eck Dunford version)
Roud #268
RECORDINGS:
Pearl Jacobus Borusky, "Sing Lay, Sing Lay the Lily Low" (AFS 4172 B, 1940; in AMMEM)
George Davis, "Love of Polly and Jack Monroe" (on GeorgeDavis01)
Sarah Hawkes, "Ho Lilly Ho" (on Persis1)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Across the Rocky Mountain" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Doug Wallin, "Jackaro" (on Wallins1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(152), "Jack Munro," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(934), Harding B 11(392), Johnson Ballads 2086, Harding B 11(1835), "Jack Munro"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Plowboy (Little Plowing Boy; The Simple Plowboy)" [Laws M24]
cf. "Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser)" [Laws N6]
cf. "William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I)" [Laws N8]
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9]
cf. "High Germany ()"
cf. "The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging)" [Laws O33]
cf. "The London Heiress (The Brisk and Lively Lad)"
cf. "The Bonnie Lass o' Benachie" (plot)
cf. "The Chatham Merchant" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bold Munro
Pretty Polly
NOTES [79 words]: The Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook version, from Kentuckian Roscoe Holcomb, shares some words with "The Girl I Left Behind." - PJS
The version in Fife and Fife, "Roving Cowboy," at first glance bears no relationship with this piece, since it lacks the ending about the girl rescuing the young man. However, the earlier verses are clearly "Across the Rocky Mountains," which is evidently a version of this song. "Roving Cowboy" has simply lost the ending. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LN07

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