Black-Eyed Susan (Dark-Eyed Susan) [Laws O28]

DESCRIPTION: Susan boards a ship to seek William. He hears her voice and greets her on the deck, promising to be true wherever he goes. Susan bids a sad farewell as the ship prepares to leave
AUTHOR: words: John Gay / music: Richard Leveridge
EARLIEST DATE: 1720 (Gay, Poems on Several Occasions)
KEYWORDS: ship separation love
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) US(NE)
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Laws O28, "Black-Eyed Susan (Dark-Eyed Susan)"
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 131-132, "Black-Eyed Susan" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, pp. 90-91, "Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 24, "Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 165-167, "Black-Eyed Susan" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Scott-EnglishSongBook, pp. 4-5, "Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou 28, "Dark-eyed Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, pp. 640-641, "Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic II, "Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Grg032 LXXXI, pp. 159-161, "Black-eyed Susan" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #153, p. 12, "Black Ey'd Susan" (2 references)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 131-132, "Black Eyed Susan" (1 text)
HarvardClassics-EnglishPoetryChaucerToGray, pp. 402-403, "Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text)
DT 672, BLKEYSUS
ADDITIONAL: John Gay, _Poems on Several Occasions_, Volumes 1-2, J. Tonson and B. Lintot, 1720 (available on Google Books), pp. 405-407, "Sweet WILLIAN's Farewell to Black-Eud' SUSAN. A BALLAD" (1 text)
Roud #560
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 1(7), "William and Susan," W. and C. Dicey (London), 1736-1763; also Harding B 1(12), Harding B 1(8), Firth c.12(3), Harding B 1(11), Harding B 1(6), Harding B 1(9), "William and Susan"; Harding B 11(304), Harding B 11(2498), Firth b.26(37), Harding B 11(307), "Black Eyed Susan"; 2806 c.16.(122), Harding B 11(306), "Black-Ey'd Susan"; Harding B 11(2206), Firth b.25(241), Harding B 11(527), Harding B 28(74), Harding B 28(74), 2806 b.10(120), Harding B 18(42), "Black-Eyed Susan"
NLScotland, L.C.1270(002), "Black-Eyed Susan," unknown, c.1840-1850
SAME TUNE:
Black-eyed Susan (broadside Bodleian Harding B 1(7))
Black-ey'd Susan (broadside Bodleian Harding B 1(6))
NOTES [267 words]: Written by John Gay, and fairly common in printed sources (Laws lists several broadsides, and it is item CLXVI in Palgrave's Golden Treasury). The only collections in oral tradition listed by Laws, however, are Nova Scotia versions found in Creighton; I am surprised to see that Laws regards it as a genuine traditional song. The Flanders version printed by Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors shows that he was right, however. - RBW
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou has a note on the transmission of this ballad.
Best collected the song from her mother who had also passed it to a friend who "wrote it down in her song scribbler." In the book's introduction Best notes that "we encountered women who had compiled their own songbooks, usually two or three scribblers bound together 'so as not to be always forgetting the words.' These books are treasured and carefully kept clear of the children." [Of] "Dark-eyed Susan," Best goes on to note "Great was my surprise to find out, much later, that John Gay of Beggar's Opera fame had composed it in 1760, and that our version matched his almost word for word."
Almost word for word, in fact. In comparing Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou 28 to Harding B 1(6) no line is dropped or added or substantially changed. "The" may be replaced by "with" and "black-ey'd Susan" becomes "dark-eyed Susan," for example, but the most substantial change is that "In every port a mistress finds" becomes "In every port a sweetheart find": likely intentional censorship. Transmission then seems likely to have been from broadside through two hundred years of "scribblers." - BS
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LO28

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