Bad Girl's Lament, The (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime) [Laws Q26]

DESCRIPTION: The bad girl tells of how she reveled at the ale-house and the dance hall, then found herself in the poorhouse, and now is at death's door. She makes her final requests, and asks that young sailors carry her coffin
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle)
KEYWORDS: drink poverty death
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South,West)) US(Ro,So,SW) Ireland St Croix
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Laws Q26, "The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)"
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 114, "Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (2 texts; the "A" text is "The Sailor Cut Down in his Prime"; "B" is "THe Bad Girl's Lament, (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)" [Laws Q26])
Hamer-GarnersGay, p. 26, "On the Banks of the Clyde" (1 text, 1 tune, which appears to mix "The Lad in the Scotch Brigade (The Banks of the Clyde)" with "The Bad Girl's Lament, (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)" [Laws Q26])
Cologne/Morrison-WiltshireFolkSongs, pp. 38-39, "The Unfortunate Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-TheMountCallanGarland-Tom-Lenihan 21, "Saint James' Hospital" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 420-421, "Annie Franklin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 426, "The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James Hospital)" (1 text)
Fowke/Johnston-FolkSongsOfCanada, pp. 160-161, "The Bad Girl's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 102, "Bad Girl's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 119, "The Bad Girl's Lament" (1 text)
Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms II, pp. 604-608, "The Bad Girl's Lament" (1 text)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #146, "The Whore's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 55, "St. Joseph's Hospital" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 97, "The Bad Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, p. 8, "One Morning in May" (1 text)
DT 350, UNFORTLS*
ADDITIONAL: Kenneth Lodewick, "'The Unfortunate Rake" and His Descendants,'" article published 1955 in _Western Folklore_; republished on pp. 87-98 of Norm Cohen, editor, _All This for a Song_, Southern Folklife Collection, 2009
Harold Courlander, _A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore_, Crown Publishers, 1976, pp. 129-130, "One Bright Summer Morning" (1 text)
Roud #2
RECORDINGS:
James "Iron Head" Baker, "St. James Hospital" (AFS 204 B1, 206 A2, 1934)
(AFS 718 B1, 1936)
Texas Gladden, "One Morning in May"(AFS 5230 A1; on USTGladden01, perhaps a composite combining parts of several songs in this family)
Bernice Mopsey Johnson, "One Bright Summer Morning" (on VIZoop01)
Tom Lenihan, "Saint James' Hospital" (on IRTLenihan01)
Mose "Clear Rock" Platt, "St. James Hospital" (AFS 194 B2, 1933)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, plot) and references there
cf. "The Unfortunate Rake" (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "The Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "My Home's in Montana" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "Saint James Infirmary" (theme)
NOTES [192 words]: One of the large group of ballads ("The Bard of Armagh," "Saint James Hospital," "The Streets of Laredo") ultimately derived from "The Unfortunate Rake." All use the same tune and metre, and all involve a person dying as a result of a wild life, but the nature of the tragedy varies according to local circumstances. There is a certain amount of cross-fertilization between versions; see the cross-references. - RBW
Legman provides extensive notes to the entire "Unfortunate Rake" song cycle in Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms II. - EC
There is a particular sub-family of this type, which I've heard done up-tempo with a rather different tune. The Darling "One Morning in May" text appears to belong here. If there is a characteristic line, it seems to be the one "My body is elevated [by the mercury treatments for venereal disease] and I am bound to die." - RBW
Without hearing Platt's & Baker's recordings, I can't tell whether this is "Bad Girl's Lament" or "Unfortunate Rake," but I'm playing the percentages and putting them here. - PJS
For the treatment of syphilis prior to the twentieth century, see the notes to "The Unfortunate Rake." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: LQ26

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