My Johnny Was a Shoemaker

DESCRIPTION: "My Johnny was a shoemaker But now he's gone to sea." He will be a captain "Of a bold and galliant crew And then across the sea he'll roam All for to marry me ... And when I am a captain's wife I'll sing the whole day long"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1865 (broadside, LOCSinging as202550)
KEYWORDS: courting separation sailor nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "MY JOHNNY WAS A SHOEMAKER"
Broadwood/Maitland-EnglishCountySongs, p. 181, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan8 1848, "Oh My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #110, p. 3, "My Johnnie Was a Shoemaker" (1 text)
Broadwood/Maitland-EnglishCountySongs, p. 181, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sumner-TheBesomMaker, pp. 11-12, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-MoreIrishStreetBallads 44, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1514, p. 103, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 reference)
Dime-Song-Book #5/72, p. 44 and #5/64, p. 44, "Johnny was a Shoemaker" (1 text)
New-Comic-Songster, p. 8, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, JOHNSHOE
ADDITIONAL: Heywood Sumner, The Besom Maker (London, 1888 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 11-12, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1388
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(366), "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also Harding B 18(670), "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker"
LOCSinging, as202550, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also sb20295b, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker"
NOTES [121 words]: Broadsides LOCSinging as202550 and Bodleian Harding B 18(366) are duplicates.
Broadsides LOCSinging sb20295b and Bodleian Harding B 18(670) are duplicates.
The description is from broadside LOCSinging as202550.
Greig/Duncan8 speculates that the Greig text is "probably from print as he does not identify any source." Greig's text is very close to the De Marsan texts but excludes the chorus "But now he's gone to reef top-sail, And sail across the briny sea, e, e, e--, My Johnny was a shoemaker."
Broadside LOCSinging as202550 and Bodleian Harding B 18(366): 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 6.8
File: OLcM044

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