Rosin the Beau

DESCRIPTION: "Old Rosin," who has travelled the whole country/world, is preparing to depart from this life. He hopes that future generations will emulate him, and asks to be remembered (usually with alcohol). Details vary widely
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (sheet music published by Osbourn of Philadelphia)
KEYWORDS: drink death party burial
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(MA,Ro,SE,So,SW) Ireland
REFERENCES (24 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 255-258, "Old Rosin the Beau" (2 texts)
Randolph 846, "Old Rosin the Bow" (2 short texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 386-387, "Old Rosin the Bow" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 846A)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 158, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 159, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 32, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 32, "Rosin the Beau" (3 tunes plus textual excerpts)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 64, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 77, pp. 203-205, "Rosin the Bow" (2 texts)
Jackson-PopularSongsOfNineteenthCenturyAmerica, pp. 171-175, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 5, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 120-121, "Old Rosin the Beau" (1 text) (pp. 100-101 in the 1919 edition)
Greig/Duncan3 698, "Rosen the Beau" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 93-94, "Rosin the Beau" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 508)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 281, "Rosin, the Beau" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H698, p. 51, "Old Rosin the Bow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1728, p. 116, "Old Rosin the Beau" (2 references)
Dime-Song-Book #3/72, p. 61 and #3/62, p. 61, "Old Rosin the Bow" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 37-39, "Old Rosin, the Beau" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 100, pp.209-211, "Rosin the Bow" (1 text)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, p224, "Rosen the Bow" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 202, "Old Rosin The Beau" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Kern Lunsford, "Help Needed on 'Rosin the Bow,'" Vol. XX, No. 3 (Aug 1972), p. 119, "Rosin the Bow" (1 text)
DT, ROSINBOW*
Roud #1192
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Rosin the Bow" (on IRClancyMakem01)
A. L. Lloyd, "Rosin the Beau" (on Lloyd12)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as110360, "Old Rosin the Beau," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb40517a, "Old Rosin the Beau"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Acres of Clams (The Old Settler's Song)" (tune)
cf. "Lincoln and Liberty" (tune)
cf. "Sherman's March to the Sea" (tune)
cf. "Henry Clay Songs" (tune)
cf. "The Men of the West" (tune)
cf. "Straight-Out Democrat" (tune)
cf. "A Hayseed Like Me" (tune)
cf. "Tippecanoe" (tune)
cf. "He's the Man for Me" (tune)
cf. "Liberty Ball" (tune)
cf. "Here's to the Army and Navy" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Acres of Clams (The Old Settler's Song) (File: LxU055)
Lincoln and Liberty (File: San167)
Sherman's March to the Sea (File: SBoA248)
Just Tread on the Tail of Me Coat (File: R474)
Straight-Out Democrat (File: SRW043)
The Men of the West (File: PGa030)
A Hayseed Like Me (File: Grnw060)
He's the Man for Me (File: RcHtMfM)
Liberty Ball (File: TPS060)
Here's to the Army and Navy (File: DalC211)
The Song of the Trap (File: AnSt079)
Tippecanoe (File: Be3397)
The Mill-Boy of the Slashes (Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 39-40; cf. "Henry Clay Songs," File: SRW039)
Old Hal o' the West (Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 39-40; cf. "Henry Clay Songs," File: SRW039)
Tippicanoe (File: Be3397)
Old Tippecanoe III ("Ye Vanits of wide Pennsylvania") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, p. 6)
Have You Heard the Good News (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, p. 33)
The Hero of Tippecanoe ("Ye jolly young lads of Ohio") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p.52)
Hard Cider ("Come ye who, whatever betide her") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p.62)
Liberty Cabin Raising ("Come on, ye firm Whigs of old Crawford") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p. 87)
Song ("Come all ye young men of Missouri") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p. 100)
Little Vanny ("You can't make a song to Van Buren") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 287)
Song of the 1001 ("'Twas down by the foot of Mount Aetna") (Robert E. Gard and L. G. Sorden, _Wisconsin Lore: Antics and Anecdotes of Wisconsin People and Places_, Wisconsin House, 1962, p. 290, [no title]. The 1001 was said to be an organization which "made hoaxing the sole raison d'etre of their brotherhood.")
The Liberty Pole ("America's Bird has alighted") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 86)
My Girl with the Calico Dress ("A fig for your upper-ten girls") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 103)
The Red, White & Blue ("Come all ye good whigs of old '40") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 133)
Ye Jolly Young Lads of Ohio ("Ye jolly younh lads of Ohio, And all ye sick Jackson men too") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 287)
Democratic Ode ("November election is coming, To arms, all true Democrats, rise") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 315)
The Agrarian Ball ("COme all you true friends of the Nation, Attend to humanity's call") (Foner, p. 48)
NOTES [106 words]: Although this song is only moderately popular, and has been heavily folk processed, songs which have borrowed its tune were very common, particularly in the nineteenth century (see, e.g. "Acres of Clams," "Lincoln and Liberty").
Cohen cites Dichter and Shapiro to the effect that sheet music of this song (author not listed) was published in 1838. Whether this is actually the origin of the song (especially the tune) is not clear. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as110360: J. Andrews 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 6.6
File: R846

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