Banks of Claudy, The [Laws N40]

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl on the banks of Claudy. She is seeking her lover. He tells her Johnny is false, she rejects this. He tells her Johnny is shipwrecked; she is distressed. He tells her he is Johnny. She rejoices
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1847))
KEYWORDS: separation reunion trick love
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord),England(South,West)) Australia Ireland
REFERENCES (35 citations):
Laws N40, "The Banks of Claudy"
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 39, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text)
Graham-Joe-Holmes-SongsMusicTraditionsOfAnUlsterman 3, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 317-319, "The Banks o' Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #48, p. 1, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 1036, "The Banks of Claudy" (12 texts, 11 tunes)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 8, "Banks of Claudy" (1 text)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Gl 61, "Clowdy Banks" (1 text)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 88-90, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 248-249, "Claudy Banks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #105, "Cloddy Banks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #66, "Claudy Banks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 154-155, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 69, "Molly, I'm the Man" (1 text); 78, "On the Banks of Claudy" (1 fragment, which doesn't look much like this song, but it mentions the banks of Claudy, so it files here)
Randolph 47, "The Banks of Cloddy" (1 text plus 1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 38, p. 152, "The Banks of Claudie" (1 text)
Hudson-FolkTunesFromMississippi 18, "The Banks of Claudie" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 71-73, "The Banks of Cloddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 73-75, "The Banks of Cloddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 266-267, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, with local title "The Soldier's Return"; tune on p. 426)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 55, "The Banks of Claudie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 71, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, pp. 166-167, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H5+H693, p. 313, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster 2, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton/Maguire-ComeDayGoDayGodSendSunday 44, pp. 134-135,172-173, "The Banks of Clady" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 58, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 30, pp., "The Lover's Return" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 321, "The Banks of Claudie" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, p. 94, "Dark and Stormy Night" (1 text, 1 tune, which the editors file here although it could be any of many reunion ballads)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, p. 130, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 65, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 19, "The Banks of Claudie" (1 text, 1 tune); 20, "The Banks of Claudy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 70, "The Banks of Claudie" (1 text)
DT 465, BCLAUDIE CLAUDYBK
ST LN40 (Full)
Roud #266
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The Banks of Claudy" (on IRRCinnamond02)
Bob & Ron Copper, "Claudy Banks" (on LastDays)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Where Are You Going, Alice?" (Victor V-40135, 1929; rec. 1928)
George Maynard, "The Banks of Claudy" (on Maynard1)
Mrs. K. McCarthy, "Claudie's Banks" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Francis O'Brien, "Claudy's Banks" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1847), "The Banks of Claudy", J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also 2806 c.15(164), Harding B 11(2261), 2806 b.9(257), Harding B 19(110), 2806 c.14(91), Firth b.26(281), 2806 c.18(12), 2806 c.17(15), Harding B 18(24), Firth b.25(188), Firth b.25(296), "The Banks of Claudy"; Harding B 16(22c), Harding B 11(266), "The Banks of Cludy" [only the title is spelled "Cludy"; else "Claudy"]
LOCSinging, as100610, "The Banks of Claudy!", Horace Partridge (Philadelphia), 19C; also as100600, as200200, "Banks of Claudy"
NLScotland, RB.m.143(129), "The Banks of Claudy," Lowdon McCartney/Poet's Box (Dundee), after 1905
VonWalthour, CD Drive>b>b(6), "Banks of Claudy" ("It was on a summer's morning all in the month of May"), Johnson (Philadelphia), 19C; also CDDrive>b>b(7),"The Banks of Claudy"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River)" (references to the Banks of Claudy in some versions)
cf. "The Woods of Rickarton" (tune, per Greig/Duncan5)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Claudy Banks
The Banks of Cloudy
The Banks of Clyde
NOTES [176 words]: Date for Grayson and Whitter is from Country Music Sources by Guthrie T Meade Jr with Dick Spottswood and Douglas S. Meade (Chapel Hill, 2002), p. 10.
Meade, Spottswood and Meade, page 10 has the comment that "Although no mention of the banks of Claudie is made on this recording, I feel it is closer to N40 than any other classification." I would make a stronger statement than that. Every line of "Where Are You Going Alice?" is substantially the same as, or clearly derived from a Bodleian broadside or some traditional version of "The Banks of Claudy" (such as Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster). For example, "green lands" replaces the banks of Claudy for Grayson and Whitter ("Just stay with me in green lands, no danger need you fear.") where Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster has "green woods" ("Oh tarry with me to yon green woods, no danger need you fear").
The matrix number for the Grayson and Whitter's "Where Are You Going Alice?" is V40135B; Meade, Spottswood and Meade has BVE 46636-2. The tune is close to, but not the same as, "Charles Guiteau." - BS
Last updated in version 5.1
File: LN40

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