Janie of the Moor [Laws N34]

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets Janie and proposes marriage. She says that she has promised to remain true to her love Dennis Ryan/Riley. He pulls out Dennis's ring and says he has died in battle. She faints; she revives when he reveals that he is Dennis
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1862 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3134))
KEYWORDS: courting brokentoken
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 20, 1854 - Battle of Alma (Crimean War). The Anglo/French/Turkish forces win an expensive victory over the Russians
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(NE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws N34, "Janie of the Moor"
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 89, "Jennie on the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 125, "Janie on the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan5 1050, "Jeannie on the Moor" (1 text)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H107, p. 320, "Jennie of the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople, p. 235, "Sweet Jenny of the Moor" (1 fragment)
Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, pp. 70-71, "Sweet Jinny on the Moor" (1 text)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 61, "Janey on the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 66, "Janie on the Moor" (2 texts)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 96, "Dennis Ryan" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-MoreIrishStreetBallads 58, "Sweet Jenny of the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors,p. 143, "Jenny of the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune, composite)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2271, p. 153, "Sweet Jenny of the Moor" (1 reference)
DT 461, JANEMOOR
Roud #581
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Peter Mushrow, "Fair Jenny on the Moor" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3134), "Sweet Jenny of the Moor," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1855-1861; also Firth b.25(286), "Sweet Jenny of the Moor"; Harding B 16(336a), Firth c.12(287), Harding B 11(1864), Harding B 11(1865), "Jenny of the Moor"
LOCSinging, as203560, "Sweet Jenny of the Moor," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also sb40502a, Firth b.25(177), "Sweet Jenny of the Moor"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there, especially N29
NOTES [172 words]: The texts seem rather uncertain as to the battle in which Dennis didn't get himself killed. The Sam Henry text mentions Alma, a battle of the Crimean War. Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia's Nova Scotia text mentions "Vendons Town"; I cannot find this in either the history or the atlas, unless it is an error for something such as Vendome. - RBW
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland has Dennis "fighting with the allied boys" while Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast has it "in a battle of Nor Amerikay." Some of the Bodleian broadsides simply mention "while in the war while fighting" but others -- as well as the America Singing copies -- do refer to "fighting at the Alma." Since I can't definitely date a "while in the war" broadside before the Crimean War I can't say which is the older version.
Broadside LOCSinging as203560: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LN34

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